Tree planting policy to add steam to Dhaka North mayor's greening ambitions

Space constraints have proven to be a major bane for the Dhaka North mayor's plans of a modern city, but greening plans are still underway. 

"We have formulated a policy on where to plant what kind of tree. We have also published a book. We will plant those trees needed for native birds," Dhaka North Mayor Atiqul Islam said.  

Speaking at a press conference on the three-year anniversary of his second term, he said, "From Mohakhali Amtali to Gulshan-1, we cut only 4 trees out of 59." 

He said they would plant the trees in the limited space that they had.

Atiqul also said the work on the retention pond area of Kalyanpur is underway and evictions of illegal structures in demarcated areas will be done.

He also said an eco-park next to it will be started without cutting any trees.

"The process of transfer of 16 bigha land of Kalshi Balur field is going on. There will be a playground," he said.

Earlier, the Dhaka North mayor announced to plant two lakh trees to reduce the temperature of the capital city.

On further plans, he said they have gathered the money to build 59 new public toilets, but could not find the space for all of those.

On the issue of water bodies, Atiqul said the Dhaka North City Corporation had removed about two lakh tonnes of waste from canals in the past year.

He said 1,250 kilometres of drains in Dhaka North are cleaned regularly. 

"We are working to make the underground Secondary Transfer Station [STS]."

He said there are 52 such stations in the Dhaka North area and nine new ones have been added this year. Three more are being made. 

The mayor also said the fight against dengue was being renewed, but with tweaks to earlier plans.

"By examining the roofs of nearly 28,000 houses through drone technology, we identified roof gardens in 22,000 houses and detected the presence of water in 200 houses as breeding grounds for mosquitoes."

He said BTI medicines will arrive in the next two weeks and the focus will be on eliminating larvicide and campaigns, including having information of Aedes mosquitoes in textbooks.

It will take two lakhs in the next two years.

The mayor also mentioned that 22,000 dogs had been vaccinated.

Trial school bus services from August

Speaking at the event, the mayor also said a school bus service pilot will start from August. 

He said regular meetings are being held with school authorities and parents regarding the launch of the school bus service.

School bus service will be started in five schools in the first phase.