Threats to stop waste collection if tender process is not stopped

News Desk: Two city corporations of the capital are collecting waste from the houses of the capital by hiring contractors through tenders. As a result, the cleaners who have been engaged in this work for a long time are losing their jobs.

Cleaning workers in shrouds staged a protest in front of the National Press Club on Tuesday (February 9th) in protest of the decision by Dhaka's two city corporations. The Primary Waste Collection Service Provider (PWCSP), an organization of cleaners, has demanded that the tender process be canceled within the next seven days. Otherwise, they have threatened to stop waste collection.

Nahid Akhter Lucky, president of the organization, said the two city corporations of Dhaka have the main responsibility for the removal and management of garbage in Dhaka's homes. But the two companies are just working to remove dirt from the designated container to the landfill. It is not possible to collect garbage from the houses with the manpower they have. So PWCSP joined them and collected the garbage from the houses of about 19,000 cleaners and delivered it to the containers of the city corporation. "That's why we used to charge only 25 to 30 rupees for the service." With which the salaries and allowances of the employees and other expenses including office expenses were met.

' The leader told the cleaners, but surprisingly, the townspeople pay two percent of the total tax bill along with their holding tax for waste. Arrangements are being made to hand over the work to the local ward councilors through a new tender of Rs 100. The private cleaners who have been involved in this work for a long time are now in danger of losing their jobs.

Lucky added that DSCC has already tendered their garbage collection work. As a result, 10,000 of our cleaners have become unemployed in South City. They are now losing their jobs and getting involved in various criminal activities. This service of garbage collection has now become a business. Harassment of citizens in South City has increased due to tenders. The garbage bill has been increased from Tk 25 to Tk 100. But the people of the powerful councilors or contractors are taking 300 to 500 taka somewhere instead of that 100 taka.

He also alleged that the city corporation had turned their service work into a business and handed it over to the councilors. "We are shocked by the behavior of the two mayors," he added. While we have been cooperating with the city corporation to keep the city clean by collecting household waste, the same staff has been trying to talk to the two mayors for the past two years. But we were not given any response. ‘In protest, when we held a press conference at the press club on January 12, the mayor agreed to talk to us. He called and told the executive officer to give us approval. Then we postponed the press conference. The executive then told us the mayor hadn't told him anything. On the other hand, as we do not have any approval at present, councilors and their terrorists have occupied every one of our wards. As far as we know, this tender is being called due to the pressure of the councilors. '