No responsible people will tolerate such mess and mismanagement
06 July 2014 Editorial Desk
Naturally now it is monsoon in Bangladesh. Whenever the monsoon approaches, many areas of the capital city go under water. Even after a moderate rain, one third of the areas in the capital city remain waterlogged due to faulty drainage system. Unlike other years city dwellers also suffer misery for unplanned drainage system, mismanagement of sewerage, unplanned road digging, prolonged road and flyover construction and for indulging corruption of these utilities providing bodies high-ups.
The inundation of Dhaka creates immense suffering for commuters mostly school and office-goers reaching their destinations as it triggers huge traffic jam. Moreover, potholes, construction materials and unearthing human waste add new suffering for the residents of the metropolitan city. Though, all the previous governments assured the dwellers to ease their sufferings by introducing master plan of drainage system and accomplishing construction work before monsoon, but the assurances go astray as it goes.
In last week, the capital city submerged when Met office recorded only 37 mm rainfall in a day. The port city - Chittagong also is still under the knee-deep to ankle-deep water. With sewage and earth piled for the flyover construction work, traffic movement was disrupted in the areas as potholes and manholes under water became dangerous to them.
We know that the city does not have any master plan for its drainage system. The infrastructure related to the drainage system has been developing in an unplanned way by four government agencies on ad-hoc basis with the aim to mitigate immediate crisis even without co-ordinating with other agencies. As a result the drainage system is absolutely in a mess, though the city is surrounded by rivers and gifted with natural canals and other water bodies. Since its inception in 1968, Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (DWASA) planned to introduce a separate drainage system (for storm water and sewage) in the city. So far it has only 110 square kilometres of sewerage and 150 square kilometres of drainage lines, which are inadequate to say the least. The city planners and engineers concerned blame this messy situation on the encroachment on the drainage canals and retarding pond areas by various interest groups, inadequate drainage conveyance facilities, disrupted drainage catch pits and connections, and change of drainage pattern due to land development or other human interventions.
Not only the capital but all the important cities including the port City of Chittagong have gone under rain water for the reasons of pitiable road conditions and unplanned drainage system. Even the City Corporations do not care to keep the cities garbage free.
No civilized society can tolerate such mess and mismanagement in city life.
