Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury yesterday stressed the need for burning the city’s huge solid wastes as those have become a threat to the public health, reports UNB.
“Many say compost fertilisers should be prepared from the city’s wastes…but I never think it’s realistic. We must go for burning wastes generated in Dhaka,” she told a meeting.
The meeting was held at the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) as per a decision of the 10th meeting of National Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Board.
Criticising the proposal for generating power from wastes, Matia said why power would be generated from Dhaka’s wastes. Amateur projects could be taken to generate power from wastes but it will not be effective one at all, she added.   
The Agriculture Minister said many compost fertiliser projects have been taken in rural areas and the farmers are preparing compost fertilisers from wastes in various ways.
“Now we’ve to take a concrete decision on management of perishable wastes of the city. Will we burn these wastes or manage those in other ways?” she questioned. Matia asked the Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) and Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) to provide incentives to waste collectors to encourage them to collect solid wastes and take those to the designated waste dumping stations.
DNCC mayor Annisul Huq said the DNCC has planned to set up 72 waste stations to collect wastes dumped indiscriminately on city streets. “And the wastes will be sent to Aminbazar for their management. We’ve to address the problem immediately,” he said.
Environment and Forests Minister Anwar Hossain Manju, DSCC mayor Mohammad Sayed Khokan and Environment and Forests Secretary Dr Kamal Uddin Ahmed, among others, spoke at the meeting held with Principal Secretary of PMO Md Abul Kalam Azad in the chair.