Another round of road excavation for the government’s development projects has started in different parts of Dhaka city just as monsoon has set in, adding to the miseries of the city-dwellers.
Travelling around the capital is difficult in the first place during rainy season, but digging up roads particularly in this season worsens the already bad traffic situation and makes moving around difficult, several commuters complained while talking to the Dhaka Tribune.
Residents in both Dhaka North and Dhaka South city corporations claimed that the state-run organisations take up their routine development works that require road digging almost every year around monsoon. In the case that several of them have to work at the same place, they dig up the place several times for their individual projects instead of planning and coordinating their work and do it all in one go.
They mentioned names of several different government agencies who conduct such digging: Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Dhaka Wasa), Dhaka Power Distribution Company (DPDC), Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Ltd (BTCL), Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) and Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC).
Sources at the city corporations told the Dhaka Tribune that according to their regulations, all the development work should be finished by May or, if not finished, should be put on hold until October so that people do not have to suffer during monsoon.
Yet, government agencies are carrying out the excavation violating the city corporation regulations, as this correspondent found on visits to different parts of the city.
One such case in Dhaka Wasa’s development work in West Rajabazar, Panthapath, Rajarbagh and different parts of Mirpur, which it started recently.
The organisation is working on sewerage lines in roads near the Panthapath-Green Road this monsoon, when around the same time last year the DNCC fixed the storm water drainage system in the same area. The double work is causing sufferings to the residents of Kathalbagan, Panthapath and the adjoining areas two years in a row.
“Road digging during monsoon is a common practice. Although I heard that no development work is supposed to be taking place during this season, the work that started long before monsoon came are still going on,” said Altaf Miah, resident of West Rajabazar.
Kathalbagan resident Selina Akter said she did not understand why Wasa has to dig roads for development work every year just when the monsoon starts.
“We cannot move comfortably due to all the dug up mud on the road, and it gets worse when it rains. On Thursday I went to my sister’s house at East Rajabazar by a CNG-run autorickshaw and had an accident because my autorickshaw fell into a hole,” she said.
When contacted, the heads of the government organisations said they avoided digging up roads for development work during monsoon, unless there was a problem that needed attention immediately.
Dhaka Wasa Managing Director Takseem A Khan denied the allegations that they only do the development work in monsoon.
“We generally do the development work before monsoon, but sometimes some projects may extend to monsoon. We always try to finish all kinds of excavation-related work by May,” he told the Dhaka Tribune.
