‘Voted, but got nothing’: Slum dwellers expect no gains from Dhaka city polls

The slum dwellers of Dhaka say the two city corporations promised to take a raft of initiatives to improve their lives but not a single of these has been implemented.

They say permanent residence is what they need the most apart from many other things, but no one cares about them.

The slum dwellers also allege that the mayors and councillors make promises before elections all the time but throw the poor out when they go to ask for something after the polls.

 

About 650,000 people lived in 3,500 slums of the capital, according a 2014 survey by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.

A large number of these slum dwellers are among the 5.4 million voters of the city.

“We have been living in this area for 18 years. We have got nothing. It’s true we have voted but we do not get anything from the government,” said Nurunnahar, an inhabitant of the Railway Colony slum in Tejgaon under Dhaka North City Corporation’s ward-24.

The last councillor of the ward provided them with a slight development of the drainage system and some winter clothes.

“We have no specific place to live. So, it does not matter whether the election comes or passes by,” said Abdul Awal, a voter of Dhaka North City Corporation’s ward-1 residing in Shajahanpur Railway slum.

“We are here today but we do not know at all where we will be tomorrow,” he added.

The dwellers of Chalantika slum in Dhaka's Mirpur are spending their days under the open sky after a fire destroyed hundreds of shanties on Friday. Photo: Mahmud Zaman Ovi

A fire burnt down Jhilpar slum in Mirpur in August last year. The slum is at ward-7 under Dhaka North City Corporation.

“The mayor [Atiqul Islam] came after the fire. He had said he would build good homes for us, but nothing has happened. They say these things only to get our vote. They don’t do anything in reality,” Shahadat Hossain, a resident of the slum, said.

“We are poor. They don’t care about our homes burning,” he said.

“Do they know how we and our children are doing following the fire incident? They are coming now to solicit vote. Does the poor’s vote count?” another victim of the fire, Nurunnahar Begum, asked.

“Our fate has never changed. The candidates come to seek vote before election but they can never be seen after the polls,” lamented Mohammad Rayhan, a young voter dwelling at Karail slum in Mohakhali.