Experts envisage that Dhaka may witness severe water-logging this year as digging several city roads continue in many busy areas with the onset of monsoon.
During Bangladesh’s relentless monsoon season, Dhaka is submerged several times a month. A mere hour of rain plunges Dhaka into an abyss of water-logging caused by poor drainage system and unplanned urbanisation.
What is more dissatisfying is that authorities concerned have been trying to set up an underground drainage system for the last 20 years and already have spent thousands of crores of taka for building a drainage system but not a lot have been achieved so far.
Therefore, restoration of the natural drainage system has become vital. However, to deal with future natural calamities, it is high time to devise a master plan to end the sufferings caused by waterlogging.
Dhaka needs a proper drainage system in which
the canals, flood plains and rivers would be
connected to carry excess water within hours
Dhaka’s water-drainage system is only capable of dealing with 20mm of rainfall where in most of the areas the rainfall often exceeds 40mm.
Moreover, most of the drains remain clogged with dirt and debris. Hence, a considerable part of our capital city collapses within a few hours of rain. Experts assert that unplanned
urbanisation and poor drainage system are the major reasons for the existing waterlogging problems in the capital.
The natural drainage system in Dhaka comprises of several canals and floodplains which have been grabbed or filled up with illegal dumping of waste.
Moreover, real estate developers have been indulging in a competition to haphazardly fill up low lands through which excess water used to go to the nearby rivers.
Improper maintenance of existing drainage system has also aggravated the situation. But efforts from the part of the city authorities have not enough fruitful to address and fix the problems.
Dhaka needs a proper drainage system in which the canals, flood plains and rivers would be connected to carry excess water within hours. In order to mitigate the waterlogging problems; the city must restore its natural drainage system through evicting the illegal grabbers of the city canals.
We believe Dhaka still has not reached the stage where it must accept that waterlogging is inevitable. We do not want to learn the way how to live being water-logged rather we want to manage the problem in a way so our life is not disturbed too much because of rain and waterlogging.
It is said that Dhaka’s waterlogging problem can be fixed. What is needed now is a concerted and well-deployed move fueled by adequate allocation of resources.