With the advent of monsoon, Dhaka dwellers and people from other major cities of the country are bracing to face the waterlogging. Although this problem recurs every year particularly in the rainy season, there have not been any concrete and tangible initiatives from the concerned authorities and agencies until now to mitigate it.
However, the government has concentrated on a sustainable solution to the persistent waterlogging in Bhabadah area of Jashore. This was disclosed by Environment Adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan during her visit to the 21-vent sluicegate in Bhabadah on Tuesday.
But every monsoon period, Dhaka and Chattogram are the most affected areas, with inhabitants of these cities facing extensive waterlogging in their localities. The major causes of this waterlogging are heavy rainfall, unplanned development, solid waste and garbage disposal, lack of integration and proper drainage system, inadequate drainage capacity and encroachment on city canals.
As a result, Dhaka is deluged even after very light rainfall. It is a fairly common phenomenon that the city goes under water whenever there is heavy to light downpour in the monsoon. The recurrence of waterlogging continues year after year for many decades.
Although, nearly a thousand crore Taka was spent over the past four years, this prolonged crisis has remained unsolved. This is not only disappointing but it also raises questions about the responsibilities heaped on the city authorities of an estimated two crore citizenry.
Suffice to say, our city authorities have abjectly failed to recover the natural drainage system of Dhaka which currently has a network of 2,211 kilometers of drains, with 961km in the south and 1,250km in the north. But this drainage system primarily canals, lakes and other water bodies has remained in the capture of a politically backed influential group which has encroached on these water reservoirs under the very nose of all of us. These land grabbers build skyscrapers, houses, factories and other structures on these natural water bodies illegally.
Ostensibly, once there were 65 natural canals across the city of Dhaka, but today the number is only 26 and most of them are full of garbage and occupied illegally. Not only that, according to an estimate, at least 3,483 acres of water bodies and lowlands in and around Dhaka Metropolis have been filled in the last decade alone in disregard of the rules of the Detailed Area Plan (DAP) formulated in 2010.
Astonishingly, sometimes our concerned government agencies are seen waking up and conduct some eviction programs as an eye-wash but their actions abruptly come to an end before they are complete for reasons unknown to us. This gives us an impression that these squatters are surely more powerful than those who are assigned to dislodge them.
For this reason, the waterlogging problem like many other similar issues including traffic congestion, deforestation, ecocide and environcide will last long in our country for years to come.
