Govt needs to be sincere about reclaiming canals, floodplains

The government, with the highest level of commitment, must immediately recover the surviving canals and floodplains that have been filled up to save the capital from waterlogging every time it rains during the monsoon, said experts and a ruling party lawmaker yesterday.

"There is no other way… reclamation…without compromise," the lawmaker, Sanjida Khanom, from Shyampur, told a discussion on waterlogging and Dhaka's livability.

English daily The New Nation and Manik Mia Foundation jointly organised the discussion at the newspaper's Ramakrishna Mission head office in the capital.

Influential quarters with the blessings of successive governments have over the years grabbed the canals and wetlands through which rainwater is supposed to drain out to surrounding rivers, she said.  

Lack of coordination among relevant government agencies is the foremost barrier to installing the drainage system, she said.    

City life came to a grinding halt whenever it rained this year, the last time on September 1 with 42mm of monsoon rains.

Inundation will turn much worse unless the canals and flood flow zones are reclaimed, said Ranjit Kumar Paul, sub-divisional engineer of Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB).

The Dhaka city corporation has turned natural canals into concrete box culverts, constricting the width from 150 to 20 feet, while powerful quarters have ruthlessly filled the canals, wetlands and river foreshores with earth, he said.

Rivers and canals have to be entrusted to a single authority instead of multiple ones and Dhaka Wasa and city corporations have to ensure congestion-free canals, box culverts and concrete storm sewers to make those functional, he said.

"At the same time, river foreshores, flood flow zones and water retention areas must be reclaimed from illegal occupation," said Ranjit.        

Prof Nazrul Islam, honorary chairman of the Centre for Urban Studies, said there were no initiatives in sight either at the government's highest level or even at the ministry level to address such a grave problem of the capital.     

The city, with around two crore people, contributes at least 40 percent of the nation's gross domestic product, he said, adding that the country's survival was intertwined with that of the city. BWDB Chief Engineer Abul Kalam Azad and former adviser to a caretaker government and The New Nation Publisher Barrister Mainul Hosein also spoke as The New Nation Editor AM Mufazzal chaired the discussion.