Mayor Annisul lives up to his calling

On this day in 2015 Annisul Huq took office of the Mayor of the Dhaka North City Corporation. Although he took oath on May 6 but began attending office from May 14, according to the Public Relation department of the DNCC.
The Dhaka North City Corporation consists of 36 wards covering the thanas of Mirpur, Mohammadpur, Sher-E-Bangla Nagar, Pallabi, Adabor, Kafrul, Dhaka Cantonment, Tejgaon, Gulshan, Rampura, Banani, Khilkhet, Lalmatia, Kallanpur, Baridhara, Badda, Uttara, Uttarkhan, Dakkshinkhan  and some others. Annisul Huq is the current mayor of the Dhaka North City Corporation, after being elected in April of 2015.
After taking his charge, the condition of the capital city Dhaka, besieged with numerous problems, has significantly changed in the last one year under the leadership of Annisul Huq. His contribution to the development of Dhaka North city is remarkable in the light of his courageous activities.
In the last one year Annisul Huq carried out several tasks in accordance to his electoral promises. These include introduction of e-tender system, freeing parks and the road from Shatrasta to Karwan Bazar rail crossing from illegal occupation.
Mayor Annisul Huq has demolished the syndicates through the e-tender system and put an end to muscle power. On the other hand, the mayor demolished part of a six-storey building in Mirpur and raised to the ground many illegal structures in Uttara. Now the city’s by-lanes are very wide and people can commute very comfortably. The narrow roads have become wide enabling vehicles to enter the roads easily.
While evaluating the performance of the Dhaka North Mayor in the first one year, urban expert Professor Nazrul Islam told the Daily Observer that Annisul Huq had promised that he will solve the problems of the nagging traffic congestion, water-logging and effluent management of the capital. “It is true that the problems of the city did not vanish fully, but the mayor tried his best to resolve these issues. The problem of the city is not created in one day, so it should not be expected that the mayor will resolve these problem overnight. It is a continuous process to make a beautiful city and the mayor is sincerely working in this regards.” Islam said.
Annisul Huq had promised he will free the citizens from the pandemic of mosquitoes once elected and the mosquito menace has little bit declined due to the continuous efforts of city corporation officials. One of the basic promises of the Mayor was to free the footpaths from occupation and he is almost successful in this regard.
Talking to journalists, Annisul Huq confidently said the appearance of northern part of the capital significantly changed at the end of the year.
Annisul Huq said the DNCC removed around 21,000 illegal billboards from different parts of the city under its jurisdiction. No billboards can be placed at turning points of main roads in the capital as they create distractions for drivers, pointed out the Mayor.
A total of 630 closed circuit television (CCTVs) cameras were installed in Gulshan, Banani, Baridhara and Niketan to ensure the security of the city dwellers. Already initiatives have been taken to bring the entire Uttara area gradually under CCTV surveillance, the Mayor added.
Assessing his journey so-far as DNCC Mayor, Annisul said, “I have been working on the pledges that I mentioned in the electoral manifesto. There might be a few achievements. But, I promise people will find no fault after three years.”
Over the past 30 years, no one could use the Tejgaon Road because of illegal establishment of a Truck Stand by some vested groups. But, it took at least two hours to cross this section of the city. There was the massive syndicate at Gabtali cattle market. I have crushed it, said the mayor.
The Clean Dhaka work is going on. Garbage disposal, clearing drains, making roads, removing illegal structures, all of this is being carried out, said the Mayor.
I promised freeing occupied parks and playgrounds, setting up modern health and sports centres, setting up city healthcare centres for mid-income people and poor, building residences for low-income group people, massive employment generation and encouraging new entrepreneurs. The DNCC team is already working on these issues and hopefully the city people will get a positive result very soon, Anisul Haq said.
Talking about shifting of Karwan Bazar, the Mayor said hopefully Karwan Bazar will be cleared up within this year.
Annisul Huq said the beatification of the city is not only the responsibility of the City Corporation, rather it depends on various government agencies as well as a good number of ministries. He urged the RAJUK, WASA and the other concerned authorities to work together to make a beautiful city for the people as well as the future generation.
During a visit to the Kawran Bazar, this correspondent found that the kitchen market of Kawran Bazar is operating in a decent way. Just few months ago people could not walk to the kitchen market due to illegal establishment of vegetable market by the retail stakeholders. But the scenario has totally changed as the DNCC authority took proactive initiatives to remove the illegal market from the roadsides. Now people come to the market in cars to purchase their daily necessities.
Shymal Kumar Sadhu, a private bank official said, “Now we are feeling much better while purchasing our kitchen items because the environment of the market has become nice. I appreciate Mayor Annisul Huq for his contribution to remove the illegal shops from the roadsides. Women suffered the most because the kitchen market always remained congested with crowd of people as a result they were facing difficulties in making their purchase. Now the women of the city can purchase their essential products without any hassle from the Kawran Bazar market. In my eyes, he is a real hero. We need to give him more time to resolve the problems of the city.”
Nurjahan Islam, a school teacher told this correspondent, “I regularly come to Kawran Bazar Market to purchase kitchen items and other products for my family. Earlier, the environment of the market was very bad, we could not freely move in the market but now the atmosphere of the market is very good. Now can freely move in the market and we can buy our essentials without any hassle. I congratulate Mayor Annisul Huq for changing the Kawran Bazar market.”
Talking about his next year plans, Annisul Haq said, “This year I will tackle the roads and then there is the water problem.” He urged the WASA to co-operate with the DNCC to resolve the water logging problem of the city. Other work includes the U-loop, afforestation and clearing the parks. All this work will be carried out simultaneously, said Annisul Haq.
Finally, the Mayor urged the people of the Dhaka North City Corporation to co-operate with him and the city corporation officials to implement various development works for the betterment of the city people. “After taking charge as a Mayor of Dhaka North City Corporation, I dedicated my life to the welfare of the city people. Pray for me and co-operate with me so that I can fulfil the dreams of the city people”, said the Mayor.
Urban planner Iqbal Habib said that the people of Dhaka appreciated the efforts of Mayor Annisul Haq to make the city liveable. He should make plans and programmes along with councillors in the team to resolve the problems, he added.