It is good to note that Government projects to remove Dhaka’s water logging problems are progressing fast. Reportedly last year the government initiated a Tk-550 crore project for canal development to solve the capital's water-logging problem. However, the project, scheduled to complete by June 2021, will bring no respite for city residents this monsoon.
During heavy rainfall in monsoon, the city suffers from water-logging due to the poor state of canals. The natural drainage system in Dhaka comprises of several canals and floodplains which have been grabbed and filled up with illegal dumping of waste. Moreover, real estate developers seem to be in a competition to haphazardly fill up low lands through which excess water used to go to the nearby rivers. Meanwhile, improper maintenance of existing drainage system has also aggravated the situation. But efforts from the part of the city authorities have not been fruitful enough to address and fix the problems.
Dhaka needs a proper drainage system in which the canals, flood plains and rivers would be intere-connected to carry excess water within hours. Therefore, in order to mitigate the water-logging problems; the city must restore its natural drainage system through evicting the illegal grabbers of the city canals.
The project worth Tk-550 crore scheduled to
complete by June 2021, will bring no
respite for city residents this monsoon
In 2016, Annisul Haq, the late mayor of Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC), took numerous initiatives to eradicate water-logging. As a result, the situation in areas such as Gulshan, Banani, and Baridhara had noticeably improved. However, people living in other parts of the city such as Mirpur, Badda, Mohammadpur, and Kuril are still struggling to get rid of the water-logging miseries.
We believe Dhaka still has not reached the stage where it must accept that water-logging is inevitable. We do not want to learn the way how to live being water-logged rather we want to manage the problem in a way so our life is not disturbed too much because of rain and water-logging. We believe Dhaka’s water-logging problem can be fixed. What is needed now is a concerted and well-deployed move fueled by adequate allocation of resources. Therefore, authorities concerned including DCC and WASA need to collaborate and devise a master plan to resolve the water-logging problem. Also authorities concerned should adopt new and innovative practices and measures following the first world countries to prevent such problems in future.
