Hawkers to get permanent registration numbers and ID cards for rehabilitation: DNCC Administrator

Hawkers will be provided with permanent registration numbers and QR code-enabled ID cards as part of their rehabilitation. However, hawkers may need to pay a nominal fee to maintain this service, Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) Administrator Md Shafiqul Islam Khan has said.

He made the remarks as chief guest at a seminar titled 'Is Dhaka becoming a dead city? Remedies for solutions' organised by Nagar Unnayan Sangbadik Forum Bangladesh at Hotel Renaissance in Gulshan, capital, on Saturday, April 25.

Khan said the city corporation tends to focus on temporary work rather than long-term planning, which needs to change. "There is no point in just holding seminars and preparing documents. We must pay more attention to implementing work initiatives," he said.

Regarding the government's plan for hawkers, the DNCC administrator said the prime minister has asked authorities to explore whether an arrangement can be made for them. As a pilot project, the city has identified six open spaces where hawkers will be given registration numbers and QR code-enabled ID cards to prevent forgery. Hawkers will be provided with chairs featuring a specific design that must be taken home at night. The city corporation will charge a nominal fee for cleaning and maintaining the designated spots.

On mosquito control, Khan said fogging machines do not actually kill mosquitoes, they only temporarily incapacitate them. He noted that using the same insecticide repeatedly makes mosquitoes resistant, so the city is now considering new chemicals and plans to rotate insecticides.

Regarding canals in Dhaka, the DNCC administrator said 19 of the city's 29 canals have already been cleaned, but public awareness remains low. Despite cleaning Paris Canal nine times in two months, plastic bottles and blankets were seen dumped there just three days later. In response, discussions are underway with the Local Government Division to introduce hefty fines for waste disposal near canals.