Dhaka after a six-hour deluge and tall promises

A six-hour heavy downpour on September 21 (Thursday) evening, measuring 113 millimetres, severely disrupted life and traffic movement in Dhaka city. Though its intensity was less than two record rainfalls the capital city had experienced on September 14, 2004 (341mm) and July 28, 2009 (333mm), last week's downpour again brought to the fore the vulnerability of city residents even to a moderate-scale downpour and apathy of the relevant entities to address the water-logging problem. In the absence of structures, natural and man-made, to drain out rain waters, many city areas got inundated. Roads, lanes and bylanes went under knee-to-ankle-deep water, affecting road-side shops, markets and residential houses. Shop owners at the city's New Market and Hawkers' Market counted heavy losses, as rainwater caused damage to goods kept inside their establishments.

The latest water-logging in Dhaka city has proved all the tall talk and assurances coming from the Dhaka City Corporation honchos hollow. That the situation has deteriorated more than before became evident from the time that the accumulated rain waters had taken to dissipate. With all concerned, including relevant agencies and city residents, demonstrating total indifference to keep water bodies and channels alive and unaffected, the situation has reached a deplorable state. The city is likely to encounter far more intense water-logging in the coming days since no serious efforts are there to correct the situation in all ways.

The truth is there is little scope to restore the water bodies, small and big, and channels that would help rain waters go out fast. Almost all water bodies have been filled up to build houses or other structures. The channels have met the same fate, courtesy of encroachers. For instance, Dhaka's largest water body- the Bhasanteker beel--- got filled up over the past decade when a law was enacted to conserve water bodies and DAP (detailed area plan) was formulated and revised more than once. One road built to connect Matikata with Mirpur invited the death of Bhasantek. Tall residential and commercial buildings have come up all over the filled-up beel. Even the government has constructed structures for its departments. The north city corporation filled up a large area to create a playground for children of the locality. The net result of all these activities is that a vast area of Mirpur now gets inundated following moderate rain even for half an hour.

Restoration of the canals--- the responsibility of restoring the canals to their original form was transferred to two city corporations from Dhaka WASA a couple of years back, it is widely believed, would substantially ease the city's water logging problem. But, unfortunately, there has been no notable progress in that direction. The DWASA top notches must be enjoying the failure since the city corporation had shown eagerness to get control over the canals in question. After the latest widespread stagnation of rain waters, two city corporations need to explain to the city residents the progress they have so far made in restoring the canals.

The Dhaka city has grown and expanded in an unplanned manner. Relevant agencies have never felt the need for putting in place an extensive and efficient drainage system and conserving water bodies. It is now almost impossible to correct the situation to a large extent even if everybody expects so. However, still, there is some limited scope to give the city dwellers some respite. First, city residents need to be more attentive to the need for keeping the surface drains clean by restraining themselves from dumping garbage into them and, second, the city corporation should try seriously to restore the canals to their original state and regularly clean the existing ones.