City folk frustrated by waterlogging
Ground floors of many shops and houses were inundated in Old Dhaka because of waterlogging on most roads
Many roads, alleys and ground floors of low lying houses in several places in the capital were flooded by rain for only about an hour on Monday afternoon.
It took a few hours to drain the water. There was knee-deep and waist-deep water in the capital's Magbazar, Malibagh, Tejgaon, Mirpur, Gulistan, in front of the Secretariat, and several places in old Dhaka.
The ground floors of many shops and houses were inundated in Old Dhaka because of the waterlogging on most of the roads there, including Majed Sardar Road, Bangladesh Math, Nazira Bazar Chowrasta, Sikkatuli, Bangshal, and more.
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Nazir Hossain of Bangshal, told The Business Standard (TBS), "The monsoon season causes us business losses because water seeps into the storage warehouses and important goods get damaged. The waterlogging also lasts longer due to construction digging and ditches on both sides of the roads.
Mirpur resident Sultan Ahmed told TBS, "Mirpur gets waterlogged as soon as clouds gather in the sky. Then there is Metrorail construction and road digging. As a result, when we go outside we are covered in mud, top to bottom."
City dwellers complained that the waterlogging was due to the negligence of the two city corporations. Even light rain causes waterlogging creating severe troubles in the city's communication system, but the city corporations have not taken any strong initiative to solve it.
On Monday, people in the capital also had to suffer in traffic jams caused by waterlogging.
Abul Hasan, a passenger stuck in a traffic jam at Farmgate at noon, told TBS he had been stuck in the same place for 30 minutes.
"I got on the bus from Mohakhali for Shahbagh an hour ago, but now I am still in Farmgate. I am thinking of walking to Shahbagh," he added.
Apart from the various development projects of the two Dhaka city corporations, the development work of various other organisations including the Metro Rail, Elevated Expressway, and Flyover projects are also ongoing on 400 kilometres of roads in the capital. As a result, most roads become muddy even after light rains.
Urban planners think that unplanned development projects of the city are a major cause of the waterlogging. Not only lack of coordination, but also lack of planning and foresight, is evident in the development work of the two city corporations and other service providers.
Maksud Hashem, chief urban planner of Dhaka North, told TBS waterlogging issues are looked after by the Waste Management Department. Usually, road and other construction is done as per plan, but there may be some problems.
Regarding waterlogging, Dhaka South Chief Waste Management Officer, Air Commodore Md Badrul Amin, told TBS, "Waterlogging is increasing with Dhaka South currently working on the development of 67 packages as well as other infrastructure development. However, these problems are not new and not possible to solve quickly. Work on our package will be completed by July. Then the situation is expected to come down to a tolerable level."
Meanwhile, Bus Rapid Transit project contractors have started repairing ditches with bricks on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway all the way from Tongi, to reduce traffic congestion. Six train services have also been introduced in the plan for the Dhaka-Gazipur railway route, to reduce the suffering of commuters.
