Generally when people compare two cities they post positive sides of their respective cities, that's the whole point of this thread isn't it?
There's no point comparing slums of Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai, Karachi and Dhaka and find out which one is dirtiest. All subcontinental cities are unplanned and dirty and have slums, however because of this should one stop feeling proud of Delhi's awesome transport, Mumbai's skyline, Karachi's beautiful beach and Kolkata's heritage and quite developed eastern fringe?
Actually topic is not about comparison of positive/elite model of Dhaka vs Kolkata. Its about who is getting more progress. How do we measure the progress/greatness of a city? What makes a city great and worth living? Is it tall decorated buildings/Malls/plaza? Is it standard of cleanliness and living conditions of people in city ? Is it good and organise transportation system? or its good health and safety facilities, rule of laws and its implementation, access to clean water and food, good roads/ pedestrians, jobs opportunities, less poverty and inequality, health care and education facilities not just for elite class but for everyone who live in city etc,
Why bringing just big shopping malls plaza or tall glorious buildings, five stars hotels and elite class housing society where majority of middle or poor class of Kolkata are not even allowed to enter.
Kolkata's poor poorer than the rest - Times Of India
If grinding poverty hurts your sensibilities, Kolkata is not the place to be in. Beyond the glitz of new street lights and fresh paint lies a world of abject poverty where people barely manage to eek out a living.
The provisional estimates of below poverty line (BPL) surveys in the city pegs the per capita income of poor in Kolkata at Rs 27 a day. The poor residing in Bengal's villages are still worse off, earning Rs 21 a day. The national per capita earning in cities and towns is Rs 32, while it is Rs 26 in villages.
Incidentally, West Bengal is fifth in the poverty charts, behind only Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. A whopping 22% of the urban population in Bengal is in BPL category. The state's overall BPL ratio is 26%.
Worse still, a majority of them have no hope of ever getting out of the hole. "These people are caught in a vicious trap. Since they are either homeless or reside in unregistered slums, they don't have identity proofs like voter's ID or ration card. As most of them have never voted, they don't form a vote bank to interest political parties. The marginalization becomes absolute as they cannot avail of poverty alleviation schemes," said Action Aid regional manager Chittaranjan Mondal.
According to the 2011 Census, there are 70,000 homeless living in Kolkata, up from 55,000 in 2001. NGOs feel the actual numbers will be much higher, pointing out that states suppress the numbers to improve the credit rating.
According to a rapid assessment survey that was done to check the concentration of urban poor, 37,760 homeless were reported in Kolkata, 14,000-odd in Howrah and a few hundreds in Asansol. Though there are 24 shelters in the three towns, only half of them function.
Action Aid, alongwith Griha Adhikar Mancha, Paschim Banga Jiban Jigbika Suraksha Mancha, Kolkata Naba Jagaran Mancha and Maheshtala Naba Jagaran Mancha have joined hands to form a network-A Just City For All-that will help the poor, destitutes and homeless in cities. In the first phase, NGOs will work in 50 wards of Kolkata and 25 wards each in Howrah and Asansol. Next year, they will extend the service to Siliguri, Durgapur, Maheshtala, Dum Dum.
"We are trying to hand over the Antodaya Annapurna cards to them so that they can avail of subsidised foodgrains. Though 500,000 cards are earmarked for distribution, only 1,492 cards have been distributed till now. We are trying to bring many more urban poor under the scheme," said Reshmi Ganguly Bhattacharyya of The Calcutta Samaritans.
The city's beautification drive, chief minister Mamata Banerjee's pet project, also came in for flak as it is pushing the homeless to the brink. "Most of the homeless are rag-pickers, who collect, store and sell recyclable garbage. The beautification drive has made it difficult for them to survive as stocking the garbage has been made a punishable offence," pointed out Md Ishrafil of NGO Right Track.