Is there no end to waterlogging?

Waterlogging has long been a chronic civic menace in Dhaka, yet it remains largely unchecked and appears to be worsening with each passing year. What many dismiss as a seasonal inconvenience is, in reality, a serious public hazard. Pothole-ridden roads, open drains, and missing manhole covers pose lethal threats to commuters when submerged under rainwater, turning everyday travel into a dangerous ordeal.  Yet, the cause of public suffering and hidden danger has not received adequate attention. Each monsoon, waterlogging sparks public outcry as roads go underwater, vehicles stall, and citizens are forced to wade through filthy, stagnant water. But beyond routine blame games and short-term clean-up drives, little is done. Only sporadic efforts are made to clear clogged drains or remove illegal encroachments from the canals. Rarely is anyone held accountable for dumping waste or infringement on waterways. Worse still, evicted encroachers often return once the authorities' fleeting efforts end. As a result, the problem not only persists, it deteriorates by default.

The recent spell of heavy rain, triggered by a deep depression in the Bay of Bengal, once again laid bare the city's alarming unpreparedness. Large parts of the capital including Shantinagar, Mirpur, Shewrapara, Green Road, Nilkhet, and areas of Old Dhaka, were submerged. Traffic ground to a halt, commuters were trapped for hours, and pedestrians braved knee-deep water. Alarmingly, this is only the beginning of the monsoon season. The Met Office has forecast even heavier rainfall in the weeks ahead.

At the heart of Dhaka's waterlogging crisis lies the longstanding neglect and mismanagement of its canal network. Until 2021, the Dhaka WASA was responsible for drainage management. During that time, city corporations often deflected responsibility by blaming the WASA for the annual deluge. When the city corporations took over the task of canal and drainage maintenance, there was renewed hope that real progress would follow. Sadly, that hope has faded. Despite expenditure of billions of taka on canal rescue and renovation, not a single canal has been meaningfully restored. Grand inauguration ceremonies have been held, even under the current interim government, to launch canal rehabilitation projects, yet residents have seen no visible improvement. For them, these remain empty gestures with no real impact. With the monsoon now in full swing, any meaningful canal restoration work has become virtually impossible.

Meanwhile, urban experts warn that surface-level clean-ups of the canals are no solution. Removing floating garbage from canals may offer temporary relief, but the real issue runs deeper. There are several stages before rainwater flows through the drains and into the river, and these also demand attention. They pointed out that rainwater flows through catch pits and into the drains beneath the road. Many catch pits and drain openings are blocked. Furthermore, garbage and sediment accumulation have drastically reduced the capacity of the drainage system and canals, which need to be fixed. Moreover, the lack of coordination between Dhaka's two city corporations is a major obstacle. Instead of implementing long-term solutions as per a sound master plan, both the authorities continue to offer piecemeal fixes, wasting public funds while failing to address the root of the problem. Dhaka's waterlogging crisis cannot be resolved with cosmetic measures. It demands serious, coordinated action grounded in long-term planning, engineering insight and, above all, accountability. Until then, the city's residents will remain hostages to a recurring disaster that is as predictable as it is preventable.