Sarishabari municipality: Waste dumping killing two rivers

Mindless dumping of waste materials by Jamalpur’s Sarishabari Municipality has been polluting two important rivers and different local water bodies for over three decades.
Sarishabari Municipality, established in 1990, has been dumping household and industrial materials into the Jhenai river since its inauguration.
Moreover, the municipality authorities sometimes dumped the garbage into the Subornokhali river as it does not have any designated dumping station.
Local people alleged that alongside dumping the waste materials into the two rivers, the municipality employees often discharged the collected garbage into different roadside ditches and ponds in Shimla Bazar and Aramnagar Bazar areas.
Garbage are even piled up in front of the upazila parishad auditorium pond and on the road in front of the upazila land office at Shimla Bazar, they further said.
As a result, town dwellers, especially pedestrians, have been facing serious troubles while using different roads of the municipality for long, but no step has been taken to solve the problem in the last three decades.
Locals said although they have submitted written complaints to the authorities concerned on several occasions, but they did not pay heed to their demand.
Surprisingly, although the municipality does not have any designated garbage dumping spot and other facilities, it has been upgraded to a Class I municipality recently.
Joya Rani Das, a resident of Shimla Bazar, said people often fall sick as they have to walk through piles of garbage.
Besides, service seekers who come to the land office for different purpose are the worst sufferers, she said, adding that the municipality authorities don’t even bother to clean the dumping spots regularly.
Rickshaw-puller Abdul Malek of Satpoa village, who has to visit the upazila parishad quite frequently with passengers, said he can’t tolerate the bad smell coming out from piles of the rotten garbage.
Abu Syed, a shopkeeper at Shimla Bazar, said the situation gets worsen even when it rains slightly.
Sarishabari Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Sharmin Akter said they have taken some initiatives to fix the trouble and are also trying to find a permanent dumping spot.