The canals and rivers become breeding ground for Mosquitoes in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Atiqul Islam, mayor of Dhaka North City Corporation, shares his experience attending the UN mayoral forum. He shares some of his crucial speeches as follows.

 “We are destroying nature, so nature is taking revenge. Occupancy and pollution go hand in hand.

The UN has a mayoral forum. In that forum, I am the executive vice-chairman. The mayor of London is the chair. Seven mayors from around the world participated.

I have represented from Asia. It was an excellent platform for talking. There I talked about three C’s. COVID 19, Climate Change and Conflict. They appreciated it very much. They are paying the price for the three C’s.”

The DNCC mayor further said, “Two thousand people are coming to Dhaka daily. The sea level is rising. The people of the coast lost their livelihood and came to Dhaka. Their children are having child marriage.

I talked about strengthening the financial management of the city. I have promised to invest 50 percent of the climate fund in cities. By 2050, 70 percent of the population will live in cities.

Instead of Fish farming, the canals and rivers of Dhaka city become breeding ground for mosquitoes. After Occupying the Lautala canal in Dhaka, we have connected it to Buriganga.

It took 54 days to recover. Moreover, if we could bio-diversify canals like Hatirjheel, our environment would be excellent.

 I will demolish any construction, including buildings with illegal occupants. People use canals as dumping grounds such as dirt from houses in Baridhara and end up in water bodies.

If one wishes to build a house in front of the canal – he has to use the canal for beautification. ETP plants should install in everyone’s home. I also put it in my own house.

Through the Mayor’s Forum, I can know what is getting done in which country. However, We have only One planet; everyone must work together to keep this world beautiful. Knowledge meant to share.”