Aklakur Rahman Akash

“What did you do when my son was murdered? My son buy medicines for me. Fifteen days ago, he came to see me. My son loved me very much. I’m losing my mind... Please do something… Ensure justice for my son,” wailed 80-year-old Gita Bala Sarker, mother of school teacher Utpal Kumar Sarker, who died after a student hit him with a cricket stump on June 25.

She lost her mother at six.

Nine years have passed since the collapse of Rana Plaza, and yet majority of the survivors are still reeling from the traumas, both physical and mental, of that fateful day.

Just a few days ago, this correspondent came across four children collecting medical waste from a temporary garbage station of Super Medical Hospital, a private facility in Savar.

This was supposed to be their time of the year. There’s Pahela Falgun, then there’s Valentine’s Day, both occasions where people buy flowers to give to their loved ones.

Once Nurul Haque used to cultivate different types of crops in his land all around the year.

Owing to the failure of contractors to finish the construction of a foot-over bridge on time, pedestrians on the Dhaka-Aricha Highway’s Joypura area, are risking their lives to cross the road through the unfinished bridge, which doesn’t even have safety railings.

Savar Upazila Health Complex has been suffering from capacity issues for quite a long time now. From lack of beds, doctors and every other required facility, the state-sponsored health service is far from fulfilling the needs of the people.

The pothole ridden Zirabo-Bishmail road in Ashulia, Savar is in an extremely poor shape, causing immense suffering to the commuters.

It’s been a long-standing resolve of cultural activists in Savar to get a mandated cultural platform like Shilpakala Academy.

On over 60 decimals of land stands Yunus Ali’s lemon orchard. It’s located at the banks of the Bongshi river, falling under Amchirmor village in Dhamrai’s Jadavpur union.

Two major riverbanks on the capital’s outskirts remain at the mercy of illegal encroachers, and the only action the government has taken over the last decade is preparing lists of the grabbers,  without taking any action against them.

Lovely Begum of Nolam Borotek area under Swanirvor Dhamsona Union Parishad in Savar, used to cook meals for her five-member family in a traditional stove fueled by firewood.

Savar’s Namabazar Road is a busy place. Every day, people from at least 20 areas of Dhamrai upazila and Savar municipality use the road, which connects to different points of Dhaka-Aricha highway and Savar-Singair regional highway.

In 2012, the government took up the initiative for a Tk 1,223 crore project to build multi-storied Upazila Muktijoddha Complexes across 470 upazilas.

The Nabinagar-Chandra highway is one of the busiest highways in the country. But with result of indiscriminate garbage dumping along Ashulia’s Palli Bidyut to Baroipara area, the area has become hazardous for both traffic movement, commuters, and locals.

What looks like a garbage dumping ground near the Savar Bazar Bus Stand actually used to be a pond, though this might be hard to believe now.

A case document centring two people, who were arrested over drug peddling, has raised questions, due to the discrepancy between accounts of police officials and witnesses.

If you are a regular commuter of the Tongi-Ashulia-DEPZ road, you must have had the experience of being stuck in heavy traffic for two or even three hours.

In absence of any systematic plan from the government or the BGMEA, an overwhelming majority of workers in Ashulia and Savar industrial belt are yet to be registered for Covid-19 vaccines.