Dhaka South did in 4 years what could not be done in 40 years: Mayor Taposh

Dhaka South Mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh has said that in the four years since he assumed office, his administration achieved what could not be accomplished in 40 years in Dhaka city.

Among his achievements, the mayor mentioned constructing new interim waste transfer stations, reducing waterlogging, controlling dengue outbreaks, and ensuring good governance.

"Before I took office, there were only 24 secondary transfer stations (STS) for waste in Dhaka South. In the last four years, we have constructed 41 new STS. Work is underway to construct more," said the mayor at a press conference today (19 May). 

"Dhaka South's waterlogging problem has come down from 70% to 10%," the mayor said at the event, titled "4 years of better Dhaka's development progress", organised on the occasion of the anniversary of Mayor Taposh's assumption of office at Nagar Bhaban in Dhaka South.

Taposh said he had promised to establish good governance without imposing any kind of tax burden on the people. "We've kept our promise by not increasing taxes in any area. Instead, we've introduced 25 new sectors, allowing us to generate revenue from 14 of them."

As a result, Dhaka South continues to create history in revenue collection in a global crisis like the Covid-19 pandemic, said the mayor. 

He said the revenue collection of the corporation was only Tk513.96 crore in FY20, which increased to Tk703.31 crore in FY21, Tk879.65 crore in FY22, and Tk1031.97 crore in FY23.

Taposh believes there has been no failure during his mayorship. "There may be weaknesses. People will judge my work."

Since assuming office, the mayor said he has ensured good governance by eliminating negligence, irregularities, and corruption among all levels of officers and employees. 

"Over the past four years, 38 officers and employees have been dismissed for these reasons. Additionally, 879 people have been appointed to various departments to address the acute manpower shortage, with the recruitment of 217 more currently in progress," he added.

Regarding his other works, he highlighted restoring the Buriganga channel, Manda, Shyampur, Jirani and Kalungar canals.

Mosquito control 

Earlier on 18 May, former mayor of Dhaka South Sayeed Khokon criticised the present mayor for giving wrong information on the number of dengue patients in Dhaka South.

In response, Mayor Taposh said his office conducts year-round integrated mosquito control activities now. 

There were only 424 mosquito eradication workers in the corporation which has been increased to 1,050 now. Also, the number of equipment was also increased, said the mayor.

Regular view exchange meetings are held with relevant stakeholders and if more than 10 people are infected with dengue in a week that area is identified as a red zone and anti-mosquito operations are conducted there.

Supervised by the corporation's health department, anti-mosquito operations are conducted in areas where dengue patients are identified by the Health Services Division, the mayor said. 

However, he acknowledged discrepancies in the provided information, which sometimes delays reaching the correct location. He assured that every dengue patient's residence is visited by the designated teams.