For days now, Narayanganj’s streets have been living with a bitter contradiction. The drains are being cleaned, but the city feels dirtier than before.
Across different areas under Narayanganj City Corporation, workers have pulled out thick sludge, plastic waste and years of accumulated filth from open drains. This work is long overdue.
Blocked drains mean waterlogging, mosquitoes and disease. People understand that. What they do not understand is what comes next. The waste is dumped on the roads, and it is left there. Not for hours but for days.
In a city where roads are already narrow, this decision turns daily movement into chaos. Rickshaws struggle to pass. Cars halt mid-road. Two vehicles cannot cross each other. What should be a simple commute becomes a test of patience. Horns blare endlessly, traffic crawls, and people’s tempers rise.
Office workers arrive late, students miss classes, and ambulances slow down. Shop owners watch as customers stay away. The piles of drain waste sit like silent barriers.
The smell is impossible to ignore. Under the sun, the sludge dries and cracks. Dust rises with every passing wheel. The air grows heavier. Breathing becomes uncomfortable. Children and elderly people suffer. Residents shut their windows.
This is not just an inconvenience. It is a health risk. Drain waste carries bacteria and attracts flies. It contaminates the air people breathe and the ground they walk on. Leaving it exposed on busy roads defeats the very purpose of cleaning the drains in the first place.
Residents ask a simple question. Why clean one problem only to create another? City dwellers are not against development work. They are not against drain cleaning. They are against poor planning, carelessness and suffering that feels avoidable.
The solution is not complicated. Remove the waste immediately. Transport it to designated dumping sites. Coordinate cleaning and disposal on the same day. Keep roads usable. Keep people safe.
A city is not judged by how often work begins. It is judged by how responsibly it is finished. Right now, Narayanganj’s streets are telling a story of neglect. A story where good intentions are buried under piles of black sludge.
