As cities grow, local administrations struggle to manage mountains of waste
Residents of Bangladesh’s major urban centres continue to live with the consequences of unmanaged waste. From Sylhet to Cumilla, Bogura to Barishal, cities across Bangladesh are drowning in their own waste — and the people living beside the dumping grounds are paying the price Ten years ago, Pabitra Biswas and other residents of Chhita Gotatikar in Sylhet depended on Bherera Beel for fish, rice and water. Several tonnes of fish were caught from the wetland each year, while farmers cultivated rice on around 2,000 acres of surrounding land. Today, Pabitra Biswas says, there is little left of that life Waste from Sylhet City Corporation's dumping ground at Paraichak has spread across the beel and nearby haors. The remaining water has turned black, fish have disappeared and plastic now covers fields once cultivated by farmers. Even during the monsoon, residents can now cross much of the wetland on foot. "If a farmer enters the haor, broken glass can cut his feet," Biswas ...
