Civic services at Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) have been suspended as the gates of Nagar Bhaban, its headquarters, have remained locked for 38 consecutive days.
Supporters of BNP leader Ishraque Hossain have been staging a sit-in since May 14, demanding his swearing-in as mayor. As a result, nearly one crore residents are being deprived of essential civic services.
Abdur Rahman, a senior official at a private company and resident of Jigatola, has been trying to enrol his five-year-old son at an English medium school. However, without a birth certificate, admission is not possible. Despite visit to DSCC’s Region-1 office at Nagar Bhaban for several times, he has failed to get certificate.
Similarly, Rabiul Ahmed, who recently opened a restaurant in Bangshal, went to Region-4 office last Wednesday to apply for a trade licence. He found the gate locked and was unable to enter.
In another case, Karimul Islam, a homeowner from Jatrabari, went to pay his holding tax at the regional office in Sayedabad but he found it shut and abandoned, even on a regular working day.
The blockade at DSCC has paralysed city’s service delivery, including issuance of birth and death certificates, trade licences, inheritance documents, and more. Vital operations such as waste management and mosquito control have also been severely hampered.
Residents have reported increasing infestations of Aedes mosquitoes, yet city employees cannot access insecticides stored in locked storerooms.
The DSCC area spans 109.24 square kilometres across 75 wards under 10 regional offices, serving nearly one crore residents. On average, 5,000 to 7,000 people visit Nagar Bhaban daily seeking services, with thousands more attending regional offices. All of this has come to a standstill.
While visited Nagar Bhaban on Thursday revealed that supporters of Ishraque had locked every entrance of Nagar Bhaban. Even the office of the Ministry of Local Government on the 11th floor of the building was inaccessible. Protesters were seen chanting slogans against Asif Mahmud Sajib Bhuiyan, the Local Government Adviser, accusing him of obstructing Ishraque’s oath-taking.
Other regional offices — such as Region-2 in Khilgaon, Region-3 in Lalbagh, and Region-5 in Sayedabad — have also remained locked. Citizen complaints continue to mount.
Kamrangirchar resident Shafiqur Rahman, who sought a trade licence, said he has visited Region-3’s office three times in the past month, only to find it locked each time. “There is no justification for suspending civic services just to make someone mayor,” he told Jagonews.
The situation has also affected public lighting. Residents said around half of the streetlights along the two-kilometre stretch from Azimpur to Hazaribagh remain non-functional, making streets dangerously dark at night.
Similarly, all inheritance certificate processes have come to a halt, frustrating people like Shahdat Hossain of Khilgaon, who has been unable to obtain a document needed for a land sale.
According to the DSCC’s health department, mosquito repellents are stored in locked storerooms at Nagar Bhaban and other regional offices. Due to the protest, no staff can access them, worsening the Aedes mosquito crisis in the capital.
Daily dengue updates from the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) have confirmed a steady rise in hospital admissions.
DSCC Administrator Md Shahjahan Mia, who also serves as the Managing Director of Dhaka WASA, has been unable to enter Nagar Bhaban and is reportedly operating from the WASA headquarters.
Meanwhile, DSCC CEO Dr Md Zillur Rahman has been forced to run his office from a small room at the Government Employees Hospital near Bangabazar.
Dr Zillur Rahman admitted that many services are currently inactive due to the protest.
He claimed that BNP leader Ishraque Hossain had met with several lower-tier employees, giving directives on waste management and mosquito control — an initiative DSCC is not formally associated with.
Urban planning expert Dr Adil Mohammed Khan, Executive Director of the Institute for Planning and Development, said that the occupation of DSCC for political demands is unacceptable.
“This movement is damaging public service delivery for nearly one crore residents. The government must act immediately — state institutions cannot be held hostage like this,” he warned.
Dr Adil Mohammed Khan, who is also Professor at Jahangirnagar University, said that with the dengue threat rising and monsoon-related waterlogging expected, any delay in restoring services will significantly worsen public suffering. “The authorities must restore normalcy without delay,” he emphasised.
