A Correspondent :
Almost all the mayoral candidates are coming up with the promise of removing water logging, a perennial problem, eclipsing all the other issues of the port city, which are also no less important. This time, a total of 12 candidates are vying for the mayoral race slated for April 28.
Every year, the low-lying areas of the premier port city usually go under knee-deep to waist-deep water following heavy downpour.
The city planners and political analysts think that the water-logging issue has now become more of a political weapon than a problem to be solved. The mayor contestants are employing the weapon against each other for gaining upper hand.
However, all other pressing issues like traffic congestion, encroachment on the footpaths and waste management, digging canals, erecting sluice gates, conserving water bodies and improving civic amenities are always put on the back burner.
The city residents said that they have to face water logging in case of any torrential interminable rainfall.
However, the city dwellers have to suffer the other problems on a daily basis. In the last mayoral election too, water logging was a decisive factor.
Just three days before the polls, held on June 17, 2010, the whole city went under water following torrential rain. This acted as a “boon” for then mayoral candidate, M Manzoor Alam, and paved the way for his win against three-time mayor, ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury, by a margin of around one lakh votes.
This time, water-logging issue is going to be again the factor in deciding the fate of the mayoral candidates.
In the last mayoral polls in 2010, addressing water-logging was given top priority in Manzoor Alam’s 56-point election manifesto titled “Change for a Better Chittagong”.
The AL-backed mayoral candidate, AZM Nasir Uddin, is also using the same old weapon of water logging, employed by Manjur Alam in the last mayoral poll.
Nasir Uddin has already declared that he wanted to rid the city of water-logging for good.
The perennial problem was on the top of his agenda.
At a press conference at the Institute of Engineers, Chittagong, on March 23, he presented his 16-point development plan to turn the port city into a “spectacular, modern, clean and global metropolis”, if elected mayor.Zerina Hossain, general secretary of Planned Forum for Chittagong told The Independent that a comprehensive and holistic approach is needed to solve the problems of the city.
“It is a matter of irony that water-logging issue has outshined all other civic issues. Issues like education, security, entertainment are no less important than water stagnation,” said Zerina.
“The mayor candidates are showing very little interest in addressing the other issues,” added Zerina.
Almost all the mayoral candidates are coming up with the promise of removing water logging, a perennial problem, eclipsing all the other issues of the port city, which are also no less important. This time, a total of 12 candidates are vying for the mayoral race slated for April 28.
Every year, the low-lying areas of the premier port city usually go under knee-deep to waist-deep water following heavy downpour.
The city planners and political analysts think that the water-logging issue has now become more of a political weapon than a problem to be solved. The mayor contestants are employing the weapon against each other for gaining upper hand.
However, all other pressing issues like traffic congestion, encroachment on the footpaths and waste management, digging canals, erecting sluice gates, conserving water bodies and improving civic amenities are always put on the back burner.
The city residents said that they have to face water logging in case of any torrential interminable rainfall.
However, the city dwellers have to suffer the other problems on a daily basis. In the last mayoral election too, water logging was a decisive factor.
Just three days before the polls, held on June 17, 2010, the whole city went under water following torrential rain. This acted as a “boon” for then mayoral candidate, M Manzoor Alam, and paved the way for his win against three-time mayor, ABM Mohiuddin Chowdhury, by a margin of around one lakh votes.
This time, water-logging issue is going to be again the factor in deciding the fate of the mayoral candidates.
In the last mayoral polls in 2010, addressing water-logging was given top priority in Manzoor Alam’s 56-point election manifesto titled “Change for a Better Chittagong”.
The AL-backed mayoral candidate, AZM Nasir Uddin, is also using the same old weapon of water logging, employed by Manjur Alam in the last mayoral poll.
Nasir Uddin has already declared that he wanted to rid the city of water-logging for good.
The perennial problem was on the top of his agenda.
At a press conference at the Institute of Engineers, Chittagong, on March 23, he presented his 16-point development plan to turn the port city into a “spectacular, modern, clean and global metropolis”, if elected mayor.Zerina Hossain, general secretary of Planned Forum for Chittagong told The Independent that a comprehensive and holistic approach is needed to solve the problems of the city.
“It is a matter of irony that water-logging issue has outshined all other civic issues. Issues like education, security, entertainment are no less important than water stagnation,” said Zerina.
“The mayor candidates are showing very little interest in addressing the other issues,” added Zerina.
