Due to mismanagement and unplanned construction of paved canals in the canal to remove waste in Jhalokati municipal town, waterlogging is taking place in important areas including big markets due to light rainfall. Due to heavy rains a few days ago, water froze in several areas including Bara Fish Market, Kapuria Patti and Tinpatti. It is taking a long time to reduce the water. The common people including businessmen are suffering in this.
Victims say that if the municipal authorities do not take effective action now, the entire city will be drowned at some point.
According to the municipal authorities, waterlogging occurs only when the canals are filled with rain due to the dumping of garbage by the city dwellers. Citizens fear that this waterlogging will become more pronounced in the coming monsoon season.
According to the municipality's sanitation department, an average of 100 tons of waste is generated daily in 9 wards of Jhalokati municipal city. It contains about 25 tons of polythene and plastic bottled waste. As there is no garbage dump in Jhalakathi, the cleaning workers are dumping garbage in Sugandha and Basanda rivers every day. Residents of the slums are dumping a few more tons of household waste in the drains. This is filling up 6 canals and most of the canals flowing in the city. As a result, if it rains for half an hour, waterlogging occurs in important places of the city. Meanwhile, the municipal authorities are unplannedly constructing drains in 6 canals flowing under the climate project. Some of these drains have been constructed for 200 meters and some for 300 meters due to lack of allocation. Due to obstruction in most of the canals of the ongoing project, water could not flow. In this, waterlogging is taking extreme shape.
According to the Assistant Land Office of Jhalokati Sadar and the Engineering Department of the municipality, the width of the 8 official small and big canals flowing in the city of Jhalokati from the British period is 30 to 40 feet. Under the climate project, the width of the canals under construction, which started last year, is 10 feet wide and 6 feet deep. The canal next to the district administration office, the canal in front of the graveyard, about 500 meters of canal of Fakirbari canal has been completed. Excluding the 10 feet width of these canals, the residents on both sides have occupied the remaining land.
Jhalakathi big market can be seen on the ground, when it rains heavily somewhere knee level and somewhere half a foot of water is frozen. Traders are trying hard to remove the water. On the other hand, visiting Kapuria Patti, it is seen that the traders of Bipni Bitan are sitting helpless as there is knee-deep water on the road. There are no buyers anywhere.
Khabir Hossain, a fishmonger in the big market, said the market was flooded due to light rains. As a result, the market became empty of buyers. Water cannot be removed from drains. We want a lasting solution to waterlogging.
Babul Hossain, a trader in Kapuria Patti area, said that the canal flowing in Kapuria Patti area is full of polythene and plastic waste all year round and water cannot flow down. In the monsoon season there are zero buyers here. So if there is no solution to eliminate waterlogging, we have to wrap up our business.
Zahid Hossain, inspector of the cleaning department of the municipality, said, “Our 50 cleaning workers collect about 1 ton of waste from roads and drains every day. Disposal of waste in Sugandha and Basanda rivers will be stopped only after construction of own bhagar. However, it will be difficult to keep the canals clean if the municipal residents are not aware.
Municipal Mayor Liaquat Ali Talukder told reporters that even after cleaning every week, the residents of the municipality are dumping polythene waste everywhere and filling the canals. Waterlogging will be eliminated when the work of the drains of the climate project is completed. Evicted lands on both sides of the canals will be recovered with the help of district administration.
