Avoid cutting roads in all wards together for Sewerage project: Ctg mayor tells Wasa

Chattogram City Corporation Mayor Rezaul Karim Chowdhury has urged Chattogram Wasa not to cut roads in all wards together to install sewage pipelines and household connections under the Sewerage project.

"Do work in one ward after the completion of another ward under the Sewerage project so that people do not suffer due to road cutting," he was addressing a view exchange meeting held at a city hotel on Tuesday night.

Chattogram Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Wasa) arranged the programme to make city dwellers aware of the implementation of the Project for Establishment of Sewerage System in Chattogram Metropolitan (1st phase).

Mayor Rezaul Karim Chowdhury said, "What will happen if 28,000 sewerage connections are to be provided? Roads have to be cut down. After cutting the roads, there should be patch works and carpeting. When the City Corporation goes to do it, Wasa will obstruct it, saying that there should be a test to see if there is any leakage in sewage lines."  

At the view exchange meeting, Dainik Azadi Editor MA Malek was accorded a reception for winning the Ekushey Padak 2022 for his excellent contributions to journalism. 

Engineer AKM Fazlullah, managing director of Chattogram Wasa, said the sewerage treatment plant will be constructed with a capacity of 100 million litres per day. 28,000 houses will be under sewerage connections and 200 km of sewage pipelines will be installed to collect and transport household liquid waste.

 "Household connection will be provided free of charge during the project period. After that the connection will have to be obtained by paying a certain amount of fee," he added.

At present, almost 288 crores litre of untreated septic sludge of people is being dumped into the Karnaphuli and Halda rivers through the city's drains and canals -- contaminating the environment.

Chattogram taxpayers protest rising holding taxes

Amid obstructions from police, activists of Chhatra League and Swechasebak League, leaders of the Chattogram Taxpayers Protection Council protested rising household taxes in the port city on Wednesday, demanding a reduction of the tax burden of city dwellers.

As part of its pre-scheduled Nagar Bhaban seizure programme, leaders of the organisation brought out a procession from Abul Khayer Market in the port city's Kadamtali area and paraded Dewanhat and Tigarpass intersection.

When they reached near the Nagar Bhaban, police obstructed them. Then, they take position at the Tigarpass intersection. Later, Chhatra League and Swechasebak League activists came to the spot. However, the police took the position between the two groups to avoid possible conflict.  

Later, four leaders of the organisation managed to enter Nagar Bhaban and submitted a memorandum to the city mayor. The chief executive officer of the city corporation received the memorandum.

Their four-point demands include the cancelation of holding tax based on house rent, fixing tax based on the building size as before, punishing the officials involved in bribery in the name of appeal, and public hearings every year to ensure transparency.

Earlier, holding tax was assessed per square foot while the new rules determine the tax against the rent or income of the building. In this situation, house owners have no choice but to increase the rent of the tenants.

Mayor Rezaul Karim Chowdhury said, "There is a scope for an appeal to reduce the increased holding tax. The organisation can raise their demands to the government, instead of the city corporation. Holding tax has been reassessed after considering rational reasons."