RESIDENTS of Dhaka City’s Badda and Shahjadpur areas have not been getting supply water for the last three months, though pandemic safety guidelines mandate frequent hand washing, plus sweltering summer in the holy month of Ramzan has further increased the demand for water. Despite the inhuman suffering prevailing in the area of millions of inhabitants, the responsible authority Dhaka WASA is lingering time to solve the problem. After three months of sufferings, WASA now has just begun taking steps to figure out the bottlenecks. If the utility service provider acts in such a slow speed the problem will take years to resolve.
According to locals, a single tube well is the only source of water for millions of people in the area. Residents organised repeated protests and agitations in the area for water, but they got nothing except government assurance. The prevailing situation has created fortune for some people who have started water trading. The victims say they have to pay extra money due to ghost bills issued by WASA. It has acknowledged the water crisis and assured quick solution after three months of acute crisis.
Ensuring affordable access to safe water to the increasingly large population of capital Dhaka is a monumental challenge. A study by the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD) found that on average per capita water usage is 310 litres per day among the households in the formal settlements-more than twice as high as the original estimates of Dhaka WASA. Water users deserve a convincing explanation of whether the higher water usage is water wastage or a case of over-billing.
Access to safe drinking water is a basic right of every citizen. Dhaka WASA should gear up its services to ensure that people of not a single ward of the city suffer from an acute scarcity of water like those in Badda and Shahjadpur. Otherwise WASA might face legal hurdles if human rights bodies take up the issue with higher courts.
