Garbage dumping along a river and highway in Cumilla’s Bagmara Bazar is worsening pollution, exposing residents and students to health risks amid the absence of a proper waste management system.
A worsening waste crisis at Bagmara Bazar in Cumilla‘s Lalmai upazila is polluting the environment and causing hardship for traders local residents and students as garbage is being dumped along a riverbank and beside a regional highway because of the lack of a proper waste management system.
A visit to the area found market waste being thrown into the New Dakatiya River and along the Cumilla-Noakhali regional highway. There has been no permanent waste management system or dustbin in the market for a long time.
As a result garbage collected from businesses restaurants educational institutions and by cleaning workers is being discarded in different places for lack of a designated dumping point.
The area beside the bridge at Bagmara Uttar Bazar has been especially affected with part of the river now almost turned into a mound of waste. Plastic polythene and rotting food have piled up there creating a strong stench and from a distance it is almost impossible to recognize it as a river.
Another uncontrolled dump has also formed north of Al Isra Madrasa along the highway where waste from some homes in Bagmara Uttar Bazar and the Syedpur residential area is being thrown.
Local residents said the accumulation of waste in different parts of the market has spread foul smells across the area. Students of nearby schools and madrasas are suffering the most they said.
Many people have also complained of health risks while passing by the piles of garbage.
Kazi Yakub Ali Nimel a resident of the market said many people are being forced to throw waste beside the river and road because there is no designated dustbin. He said this is damaging the environment and ruining the beauty of the market.
Lokman Hossain acting chairman of Bagmara South Union Parishad said the problem has persisted for a long time because of the absence of dustbins. He said necessary steps are being taken to solve it.
Lalmai Upazila Nirbahi Officer Umme Tahmina Mitu said the administration is aware of the indiscriminate dumping in the market. She said measures would be taken to install dustbins and ensure proper waste management to prevent environmental pollution.
