Awami League mayoral candidate for Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) Atiqul Islam on Sunday announced his election manifesto with promise of building Dhaka a ‘modern, dynamic and livable’ city. While unveiling the election manifesto, he declared three-dimensional plan in presence of journalists, businessmen, politicians, film actors and other representative of the society at a press conference at Lakeshore Hotel in the capital.
Atiqul made 38 pledges in his manifesto which include mosquito control by Integrated Vector Management (IVM), sustainable waste management, introduction of electric bus service, digital command centre, Sobar Dhaka (Dhaka for all) App, citizen amenities for slum dwellers and others.
“My priority is not only to build a city for better living but also to work for developing the citizens’ lifestyle,” Atiqul said while addressing the press conference. “I will make North Dhaka a modern, dynamic and healthy city, if reelected,” he said, adding that he will utilise his experiences of the last nine months as DNCC mayor.
Atiqul said, as a mayor in last nine months, he had taken initiative to clean some canals and rescue them from grabbers. If reelected, he promised to free the city’s canals, footpaths and water reservoirs from grabbers and illegal occupation. He also said, “There is no way but a sustainable waste management system to build modern Dhaka. We will produce electricity from waste by installing Resource Recovery Facilities (RRF) in a planned manner at Aminbazar.”
Promising to ensure safety of the citizens, he said, “I want our next generation to grow up healthy. I will build ample playgrounds and parks for games and sports.” Atiqul also promised that he will take effective steps to curb corruption in different sectors. Apart from this, he promised to take coordinated plan for reducing traffic congestion, build pedestrian friendly foot-over bridge, install digital push button signal, introduce digital e-ticketing, introduce special public transport and special public-establishments and build parking system and modern slaughterhouse at city’s different areas.
He was elected mayor of DNCC in 28 February 2019 by-polls as a Awami League candidate. The post fell vacant after the then DNCC mayor Annisul Huq passed away on November 30, 2017. The last mayoral election was held on April 28, 2015.
