WITH the monsoon knocking, the inhabitants residing inside the Dhaka-Narayanganj-Demra (DND) floodgate area fear the extreme possibility of water logging like the previous years. The people there have already been water-locked by the recent moderate rainfall. It has marooned areas in DND flooding households, businesses and industries. Experiences suggest that with further rainfall, the situation is destined to become more aggravated. The fate of the emerging locality under this project has been merged with rainwater, muddy narrow passages and lacks in general civic amenities.
DND was planned as an irrigation based agro fisheries project for kitchen supplies for the city people in 1968 and named as the Flood Control Drainage and Irrigation Project. However, with the passing years, a vast majority of low-income group people started to migrate to this 31.25 square km area and build homes there. The agro lands under this project thus gradually turned into residential, commercial and industrial units ignoring all housing rules and guidelines. Now the entire area has become difficult to live in. Unplanned accommodation for citizenries in DND zone has not only destroyed the arable lands, but also helped land-grabbers to take over water-bodies in the area, which are vital for the water flow system. The apathy of the government functionaries who played a mere spectator role to the land grabbers and remained dumb to unorganised urban growth in DND area is really a matter of grave concern. They hardly take any remedial measures except to make unsubstantiated promises. A Tk 238 crore project was finalized in 2010 to eradicate the reoccurring water logging of DND. The project was supposed to have been completed by June last year, but a bureaucratic silence spreads over it till now. The end result is prolonged sufferings of the people of the DND zone.
The ghastly problems of the people living in the south-east part of the capital demand a quick sustainable solution. We suggest a separate sub-regional plan for DND area under Detailed Area Plan (DAP) of the Rajuk. Rajuk should provide housing plan for the existing population of DND provisioning enough space for road transportation, drainage system, public institutions and social utilities. As nearly 3 million people have already made their home in this area, so space limitations may restraint the possibility of horizontal remodelling there. In that case, the vertical development of the DND area can be more capable of retaining the entire inhabitants living in DND.
For immediate solution to the water logging difficulty, the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB) and the other government bodies must take concerted efforts without any delay. More water pumps, drainage opportunities and other mechanisms for quick removal of stagnant water need to be made available on an emergency basis to provide relief to the people living in DND. But there must be tangible solutions to prevent a reoccurrence of this annual havoc.
