Thousands of residents inside the Dhaka-Narayanganj-Demra (DND) embankment area have been suffering from severe waterlogging every monsoon for more than a decade as the government is yet to find a sustainable solution to the problem.
With no clear sight of a way out of this problem, the waterlogging has become unbearable for the residents every monsoon as it seriously hampers their daily life.
An official of Bangladesh Water Development Board, seeking anonymity, told the Dhaka Tribune that due to the government’s indecision, residents inside the DND area had continued to live in immense discomfort.
“At first, the government had taken a decision to change responsibility of DND from BWDB to Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Wasa). Later, a ministerial committee decided to hand over the responsibility jointly to Wasa, Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) and Narayanganj City Corporation (NCC),” he said.
The BWDB official also claimed that the NCC already had started development work and the DCC has also conducted a survey on the area to come to a decision.
During a visit to the area, this Dhaka Tribune correspondent found residents of the area had been leading a miserable life for the past three months. Many roads, fields and other open spaces had already gone under knee-deep water and many lowlying areas were also submerged.
Several roads and open spaces inside the DND, including Matuail, Shanir Akhra, Mogholpara, Rasulpur, Dholesshar, Adarshapara, Sarulia, West Sarulia, Dogair, Deillah, Munsibagh, Baghmara, Boxonagar, Sarulia Bahir Tengra, Kandapara, Mredhabari in Demra and Dhaka and different areas at Siddirganj in Narayanganj had also gone underwater.
At the same time, several houses, educational institutes and even healthcare centres were marooned this year just like in the past.
Not only does the waterlogging disrupt their daily life, the stagnant water also becomes a breeding-ground for mosquitoes and various waterborne diseases such as diarrhea and skin diseases.
Mohammad Minar Hossain, who runs a tea-stall at Sarulia in Demra, said: “The BWDB had not properly maintained the embankment area. Their responsibility was to drain stagnant water out of the area every year during monsoon, but they do not do it properly.”
“This year, BWDB took no additional steps to pump out the heavy rain water, reasoning most of the area had been permanently submerged.” he added.
At a time when additional pumps are required to solve the problem, it was also alleged that all of BWDB’s pumps were not functional.
Sayed Ahmed, a resident of Kazla in Siddirgan, said the BWDB has only four large pumps to uptake the stagnant water out of the area.
“The BWDB had announced long ago that they would set up another pump at Pagla, but this was never implemented. The existing pumps are old and poorly maintained, many of which are no longer capable of draining huge amounts of water after a heavy rainfall,” he claimed. He also claimed that waste from fish farms in the surrounding areas usually clog the mouth of the pumps as well as canals.
When contacted, BWDB Executive Engineer (Dhaka O and M Division- 1) Md Ruhul Amin told the Dhaka Tribune: “Every year, the government sanctions a small fund for drainage work of the existing canals and drain rain water.”
He also said more than four years ago, the government also took an initiative to solve the waterlogging problem and put an end to the suffering of thousands of people living in the DND area.
“A feasibility study was done back in April 2010 and the report was submitted to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) in November 2011. However, it was returned back for a lack in funds from the government and it is still put on hold and the decision is still pending even now.” Ruhul said.
BWDB high officials said the government had implemented a Tk13 crore project from 2006 to 2009 to improve the drainage system in the area.
Answering a question on the shift in authority of the DND dam, he said: “I am not sure about this, but I have heard that the government is trying to hand over the responsibility to Dhaka Wasa and the city corporations.”
Earlier, local MP Habibur Rahaman Mollah came to WDB’s defence saying the agency has been trying to clear the logged water from inside DND dam.
“People too have some faults. Some residents dump waste in canals. Few people have encroached on canals and open spaces. Most of the canals have been filled in. So, heavy rainwater leads to water-logging for long periods,” he said.
“We have been trying to free all canals to ensure smooth flow of water out of the areas,” he added.
The ruling party lawmaker also said he was aware of the fact that the ECNEC did not approve a development project for DND area, but did not know why.
The DND project was executed during 1962-68 as Flood Control Drainage and Irrigation (FCDI) project primarily to protect Dhaka and Narayanganj towns from floods, and to save crop lands from overflowing rivers.
It was then a part of an exclusive irrigation project aimed at achieving self-reliance in food grains production. But the area continued to develop as an unplanned residential area after the country’s independence, with lower middle income families buying land and building homes haphazardly.
The trend gained pace after the 1988 flood, inviting more people inside the dam area. As a result most of the agricultural land was transformed into residential, small business or even heavy industrial zone without any a proper urbanisation plan.
