Shah Alam Nur :Hatirjheel Lake, which was planned as a recreation hub in the city centre is losing its attraction and rather has become a dirty place with stink in the air due to continued release of untreated sewage into it. It has become a serious health hazards to all the residents of the crowded localities surrounding the city’s showcase lake.Residents blamed negligence of the authorities in setting up the sewage treatment plants at Daserkandi and Aftabnagar as the main reasons for water pollution in Hatirjeel Lake. The sewage treatment plants, scheduled to be completed before Hatirjheel project was opened to public as the city’s showcase lake in 2013, has been on the back backburner of Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority.The work for setting up the sewage treatment plant is yet to begin.Source said, in the absence of the treatment plants average five lakh cubic metre of raw sewage is being released into the lake every day from the surrounding localities thus causing the water pollution.He said when it rains; solid waste mixed with rain water enters the Lake. There is no in built system to check it.Visitors and residents living around the Lake area are deeply frustrated at the fading of aesthetic beauty.Nazmul Haque, a resident of Rampura, claimed that the project was not properly planned. Its supervision is also vulnerable. He said, stinking near the Rampura Bridge and in the back of the Sonargaon Hotel is frustrating. When it rains balck polluted water spreads bad smell making it impossible to stay around. But there seems no initiative at work to improve the situation.Abdur Rahaman, a resident of Moghbazar, said, that the hurried inauguration of Hatirjheeel Lake without setting up the sewage treatment plants is presenting a huge health and hygiene hazard to the people in the nearby localities.He said, most visitors do not apply civic sense when they go to the Lake area. They carry with them soft drinks bottles, polythene filled with ground nut, biscuits and newspaper and leave those there after use. Many use its open space for urination and since those wastes are not removed, environment gets polluted. Afraza Aktar, resident at Dilu Road said that bad smell from the polluted Hatirjheel water became a big source of irritation for those living in the localities around the lake.It was getting polluted due to releasing untreated sewage into it or due to the long delay in setting up the treatment plant, she said adding the lake also became a mosquito breeding hub.Dhaka WASA (Water supply & sewerage authority) DWASA could not yet acquire 110 acres of land to setup the sewage treatment plant.Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology prepared and gave the design of the treatment plants to WASA long ago.There could be no improvement of the water quality of Hatirjheel Lake and the surrounding areas until the sewage blockade treatment plants wise set up.Jamal Aktar Bhuya, project director of Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK) said that the box culvert at Panthapath was set up only to facilitate drainage of the surrounding areas’ rain waters and not for the channeling raw sewage.He said unless rain water drainage outlets of the surrounding areas were freed from sewage blockade there could be no improvement in Hatirjheel’s water quality.Md Shahiduddin, project director WASA said, land acquisition for the treatment plant would be completed ‘very soon’.He said, the dirty water flows to Rampura canal from Gulshan Lake through Hatirjheel. This is one of the reasons of pollution of canal water.He said, WASA will set up a pumping station shortly near the Rampura Bridge to pump out black water before it falls into the Hatirjheel Lake to Rampura canal in order to keep lake water neat and clean.About the complaint of weak security system, he said that the government would soon recruit security personnel and cleaners to improve the security and keep the project clean.The main objectives of the 302-acre project were to connect the eastern and western part of Dhaka, reduce traffic jam, improve Dhaka’s drainage and sewerage system; it has turned into a hot spot for people to spend some quality time over there.
