Sanitation workers operating across the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) face escalating violence as armed criminal groups attempt to forcibly seize control of the lucrative municipal waste management sector. Armed gangs carrying weapons have been observed patrolling neighborhood alleyways, threatening municipal cleaners, and damaging collection vehicles. Consequently, door-to-door waste collection across at least five DNCC wards has ground to a complete standstill for four consecutive days, leaving secondary transfer stations (STSs) locked and domestic refuse piling up on residential streets.
CCTV footage recorded at 3:00 am on 26 August exposes the brutality of the attacks. A group of armed men raided the secondary waste transfer station located in Ward 21, dragged a municipal waste truck driver out of his vehicle’s cab, and beat him severely. Between 23 August and 29 August, clean-up crews and primary waste collectors across Wards 21, 37, 38, 41, and 42 reported systematic intimidation, physical assaults, and death threats intended to force them off their routes.
Describing the assault, an injured sanitation worker recalled how four to five armed assailants approached as his crew attempted to flee into a nearby informal settlement. The men pursued them, cornered one worker against a boundary wall, and struck him repeatedly on the head with the butt of a handgun, causing severe lacerations near his ear. Another collector stated that the attackers explicitly ordered them to cease work immediately, warning that the command came directly from an influential local political leader.
In urban Bangladesh, primary waste management functions through a two-tiered system. Private contractors and local primary collection agencies gather household refuse from doorsteps using handcarts and vans, transporting it to ward-level STSs. From these transfer stations, city corporation compactors haul the bulk waste to major landfill sites outside the capital. Because primary collection relies on monthly service fees collected directly from thousands of households, control over neighborhood waste corridors generates significant daily cash flow. This revenue stream frequently attracts local extortion syndicates seeking territorial dominance.
Waste management contractors in the affected wards maintain that the coordinated violence is an aggressive bid by rival factions to muscle into these profitable contracts. Rakib Dhali, a sub-contractor managing the Gulshan Lakefront Secondary Transfer Station, explained that criminal gangs have launched targeted ambushes over several days while placing direct threat calls to individual workers’ mobile phones. According to Dhali, the extortionists demanded a lump-sum payment of 50 lakh taka (£32,000) to allow waste handling operations to continue without further interference.
The sudden suspension of collection services has severely compromised public hygiene across Badda, Gulshan, and adjacent neighbourhoods. Property caretakers report that domestic rubbish is accumulating in residential complexes, creating foul odours and health hazards during monsoon humidity. Sanitation staff confirmed that gang members continue to block access roads leading to transfer stations, seizing collection vans and physically stopping vehicles from tipping refuse into municipal compactors.
Addressing the crisis, Mir Shahe Alam, State Minister for Local Government, Rural Development and Co-operatives, issued a firm warning to those behind the attacks. He declared that the government would not tolerate extortion, violence, or disruptions to essential public services, stressing that strict legal measures would be taken against all perpetrators regardless of their political ties. Following the attacks and extortion demands, a formal complaint against unidentified individuals was filed at Badda Police Station, where law enforcement officers have launched an investigation.
