Almost no designated areas for sacrifice

GBNews24 Desk//

To keep the capital clean during the sacrificial rituals of Eid-ul-Azha, the two city corporations fixed 535 designated spots to sacrifice animals during Eid in 2015.

However, Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) and Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) this year are ditching the plan.

There will only be three designated spots in DSCC areas and two in DNCC areas at the request of residents. Besides, DNCC will have seven more spots, as part of one of its awareness campaigns, according to officials.

“We took a u-turn from having large-scale designated spots for sacrificing animals due to people not showing interest previously,” DNCC mayor Atiqul Islam told The Daily star on Wednesday.

He said that they have kept seven designated spots at ward-7 as part of an awareness programme, while the other two — at Nikunja-1 and Baridhara Block-K — have been arranged on request of the people living there.

However, city residents have disagreed with the mayor’s logic of closing the designated areas.

Jahangir Hossain, a Mirpur-10 resident, said he was not informed where the designated place for slaughtering was.

“If I’m not informed, how am I supposed to bring the animal for sacrifice?” he asked.

City corporation officials estimated that more than five lakh animals are sacrificed every Eid-ul-Azha in Dhaka, a city inhabited by over two crore people and one that is suffering from poor drainage and waste management.

In 2017, the two city corporations designated 1,174 spots for sacrificing animals during Eid.

Last year, DSCC abandoned the initiative, while DNCC fixed 307 spots only.

“We have kept three designated places — two at the judges complex in Kakrail and one at Eskaton quarter for government officers — based on their requests. We could not designate other spots as the residents did not show interest,” said Farid Ahmed, chief executive officer of DSCC.

He said that waste of the sacrificed animals will be collected within 24 hours, from 2:00pm on Eid day.

“The way animals are being sacrificed in Dhaka creates nothing but a civic nuisance. The decision to not keep the designated spaces is an awful one,” said urban planner Iqbal Habib.