Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) Mayor, Atiqul Islam, has said that blocking of entry of a mobile court's team to Health and Family Welfare Minister, Zahid Maleque’s house was not a happy development. The team was conducting a drive against mosquitoes on Tuesday. The mayor said he was unable to contact the minister despite repeated attempts.

The mayor was speaking to journalists while attending a cleaning campaign at the Gabtali bus terminus in the capital yesterday (Wednesday). On Tuesday, a city corporation mobile court, tasked with inspecting buildings to find mosquito larvae, was barred from entering the Baridhara residence of the minister. The mayor said: “We are not imposing fines on owners after visiting residential houses for the first time. What we first do is, we put up a notice which reads ‘Aedes larvae found in this house’. We are imposing fines on owners or authorities of under construction bulidings or commercial organisations, if larvae of Aedes mosquitoes is found.”  

Earlier, the mayor, along with the local MP, visited the bus terminal. He expressed dissatisfaction seeing the dirty surrounding.  “The waste is from restaurants and shops. The environment of the bus terminal is getting polluted by the waste,” Atiqul Islam said. He expected that everyone would assist the city corporation to keep the place clean.

The mayor, however, expressed his satisfaction visiting the Mirpur model police station. He also thanked the authorities of the police station for the clean environment. Atiqul Islam said the waste piled up at the back of the Gabtoli bus terminal was due to illegal shops and eateries.