Editorial
JS body moves to save Dhaka
We want to see action
The recommendations made by the parliamentary standing committee on forests and environment regarding protecting the capital from further decline should make the powers that be sit up and take notice. That Dhaka has been in a state of gradual regression from an environmental point of view is a dark reality we have lately lived with. Now that the parliamentary committee has decided to act, follow-up action is called for. Basically, the recommendations centre on the need for improvements in the drainage system and a streamlining of road traffic. The imperative, as can be gauged from the concerns expressed by lawmakers, is for the city to have 40 per cent of its total 166 sq. km. area given over to a drainage catchment system.
That is important. But such moves can only be rendered meaningful if and when steps such as a clean water act are taken by the Jatiyo Sangsad. These moves ought to have come earlier when the first indications of the city's drainage system disappearing through a filling in of wetlands and other water bodies in the interest of so-called urban development began to be noticed. By now, considerable damage has been done to the city's environment. A brief spell of rain is enough to inundate major parts of Dhaka. It was not like this in the 1960s and 1970s, even up to the mid-1980s. And, on top of that, consider that other major predicament: as a lawmaker has pointed out, 85 per cent of roads in Dhaka will be impossible to negotiate by 2020. That is only too obvious, given the traffic related difficulties citizens go through currently.
Serious, well-formulated thoughts must now be given to a streamlining of plans to recover a nearly lost city. With too many organisations responsible for guaranteeing a smooth flow of services to citizens, gridlock has naturally been the consequence. Which is why policies should now be geared to an integration of services and their carrying out through a unified structure. Implementation of the JS body's recommendations will depend on the kind of operational mechanism that is put in place.
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