Reza Mahmud :
Both city corporations of capital Dhaka have started drive on cleaning drainages as public sufferings mount from water logging following start of monsoon rains in the last several days.
Urban planners labeled this mid June drive in different areas as the late efforts while the city dwellers witnessed sufferings from June 1.
“Both the city corporations brought big projects to evict garbage’s from canals which they have been given responsibility to oversee from the Dhaka WASA in the begging of this year. They have also conducted drives to clean their box culverts. But the local drainage systems were left behind,” Professor Dr. Adil Mohammed Khan, General Secretary of Bangladesh Institute of Planners, told The New Nation on Monday.
He said Dhaka North City Corporation Mayor Md. Atiqul Islam has allocated Tk 10 lakh as a block allocation for Ward councillors to clean local drainages.
“If the local drainages remain clean, the suffering of water logging would be removed to a great extent,” said Dr Adil.
City dwellers from different areas alleged of keeping local drainages unclean for long which played a vital role to create water logging in the beginning of the monsoon rain.
They witnessed about 85 mm rainfall in June 1 and
June 5 which created untold suffering for them from the acute water logging in both the city corporation areas.
Experts have blamed a lack of coordination between different service organisations for the longstanding water logging.
After long discussion, the government transferred the responsibility of removing water logging from WASA to the two city corporations.
After reaching an agreement on December 31 last year, the official handover took place on January 4.
The city corporations are now responsible for overseeing Dhaka’s canals and some 360 km of drainage canals. The two city corporations have already been overseeing 2,300 km of drainage systems in the capital.
In Gandaria railway station adjacent areas, it was found on Sunday and Monday that cleaners are busy to clean drains pulling out huge garbage from there.
“We are suffering several days from stagnant water in the main road of DIT plot and besides the rail stations. But the cleaners came at last to clean the drain which had to do before the rain,” said Ahmed Ali, a resident of the area.
The DSCC officials said their cleaners started cleaning since Thursday and clean about 110 tonnes of waste from drains.
When contacted, Architect Iqbal Habib told The New Nation on Monday, “The efforts had to start more earlier. But though it is late, the efforts have to continue until the next year’s rainy season so that people can get rid of the sufferings.”
DNCC Mayor Atiqul Islam said, “After the recent rain, we prepared a list of the areas affected by water logging. Six areas have been identified as hotspots and also 103 locations. We will start necessary work in those areas to remove the problem.”
DSCC Mayor Barrister Fazle Noor Taposh said, “We are working honestly to remove the problem soon.”
He, however, said that water logging could not be removed if the city corporation did not get control of the Water Development Board’s sluice gates.
