URBAN life in the capital Dhaka and the port city Chittagong has come to a halt due to water logging following the seasonal rains for the last couple of days. Media reports have it that rainwater led to severe water-logging in most areas of the capital including Motijheel, Shantinagar, Mouchak, Maghbazar, Rampura, Badda, Jatrabari and even some posh residential areas like Gulshan and Dhanmondi. Torrential rainfall has also turned city life into a deadlock in the port city Chittagong, the major economic hub of the country. It remained inundated for the fourth consecutive day on Sunday, with a handful of vehicles plying on the streets. Water rose knee high, preventing transports from plying on the roads and clogging up the roads for hours. People have undergone enormous miseries particularly in the capital and in the port city.
Surprisingly, this has been a common annual feature when the seasonal rains come down in the monsoon. But none is here to look after the matter to reduce public miseries. Though causes of this stagnant rainwater are known to almost everyone, the authorities concerned seem unwilling to pay heed to the hazards as the scene behind the screen displays an ugly nexus over the issue. The problem is majorly attributable to the absence of a proper drainage system, lack of waste management and sewerage system and poor planning. The canals of Dhaka were earlier used as the connecting channels of the rivers. But most of these canals have vanished due to a variety of reasons: unplanned urbanization, encroachment, lack of co-ordination between the government agencies and lack of maintenance to the system. Another major cause for the narrowing of the channels of the canals is the dumping of solid wastes. The major waterways of the cities have been nakedly grabbed by the influential quarters with patronage from powerful lobbies. Media outcry or even the protest of the environmentalists has made no sense to the money mongering land grabbers.
It is now accepted that during the rainy season most of the metro-roads will be submerged due to heavy rain, wreaking havoc on civic life. Even a little rain causes serious problems and creates water-logging. Experts said, Dhaka City Corporations (DCCs), Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (WASA), Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkhya (Rajuk), Chittagong Development Authority (CDA) and Chittagong City Corporation are responsible for not mitigating the problem, but it is their duty to resolve the problem. They seem rigid and not ready to do their duties. Those who are employed at public expenses are rather inactive. They should be taken to task for earning money through corrupt ways and doing nothing. As the public servants enjoy political patronization of a sort, they do not feel accountable to the taxpayers by which they are paid for.
We have the view that the public authorities must show the responsibility to take care of the well-being of the city citizens and ensure minimum civic services to make the city liveable. They should step forward to lessen the woes of the city inhabitants and make life in the cities more bearable.
