Parts of Hazaribagh, a widely known area in the capital for tannery industry, has been flooded with toxic chemical water from the tanneries for the past few days due to poor drainage and sewerage systems in the area.
Streets and other areas from Ganaktuli School to Hazaribagh kitchen market are submerged in the toxic water, which overflowed from the drains, causing immense suffering to the residents of the area.
Locals claimed that lack of monitoring by the Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Wasa) and Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC), who are responsible for managing the area’s sewerage and drainage systems, caused the flood.
“Despite the dry season, the roads have been under the tannery water since Monday. The authorities have yet to take steps to clean up the drains,” said Abul Kalam Azad, resident at Ganaktuli area in Hazaribagh.
After receiving complaints from the locals, Wasa officials visited the site on Tuesday evening, but did not immediately start the clean up, as a Wasa cleaner said they did not work at night.
Md Rafiqul Islam, the cleaner, told the Dhaka Tribune that they started working yesterday morning, and the water had already started to recede.
About the cause of flooding, he said: “A huge amount of solid tannery waste was dumped into the DSCC service drains and Wasa sewerage drains, which clogged them and caused the waste water to overflow on to the roads and streets.”
Wasa engineer Md Asaduzzaman visited the area yesterday and directed the cleaners to work fast.
He also assured the locals that the water would subside entirely by the night.
A persisting problem
Talking to the Dhaka Tribune, many locals claimed that such flooding had happened before, yet the authorities concerned had a lacklustre attitude about solving the problem.
Azad, the Ganaktuli resident, told the Dhaka Tribune that such a situation is commonplace during monsoon.
The locals also claimed that by not taking proper steps to resolve the problem, the authorities are setting up a death trap for the pedestrians and passengers of small vehicles, ie rickshaws, auto-rickshaws, motorcycles and human hauliers.
Ripon, an auto-rickshaw driver, said: “During these waterlogs, the roads get under pitch-black toxic water, making it difficult to navigate through them. Sometimes the auto-rickshaws and other small vehicles fall into the drains, or their wheels get stuck in the manholes.”
Hazaribagh was listed as one of the top 10 polluted places in the world in a 2013 study by Zurich-based Green Cross Switzerland and New York-based Blacksmith Institute.
There are 270 registered tanneries in Bangladesh, and around 95% of those tanneries are located in Hazaribagh, most using outdated and inefficient processing methods.
The government recently decided to move the industry from Hazaribagh to Savar, starting from the first quarter of this year.