Editorial
Pull up the socks
Water-logging getting unbearable
Three days' incessant monsoon rain brought the capital city to a virtual standstill. The pothole-riddled roads in many areas have gone under knee-deep water. The notorious snarl-ups at the busy traffic points have only got longer. The ordeals that the city's commuters are facing have now become unbearable.
Are those in the administration, especially in the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) and the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA), perturbed at this situation as they should be?
Though WASA claimed that the accumulated rainwater in most parts of the city streets has been cleared, it had also to admit in the same breath that they could not free areas like Mouchak of water as the rivers adjacent to the city have been flowing close to danger marks.
WASA's admission serves to shed some light on the nature and gravity of the water-logging problem the city is faced with. For it is a well-known fact that the traditional water drainage system Dhaka was once proud of has long been blocked as a result of mindless activities of building and digging carried out in the name of development by different government agencies including the Rajdhani Unnoyon Kartripakkha (RAJUK), the DCC, the WASA and so on. Add to it the contribution of the private sector in the building spree.
What are we witnessing as a result? The phenomenon of water-logging is now spreading to yet new areas.
The authorities' response to the city streets' age-old curse of getting submerged during sudden downpours is predictable. Which is all about pumping the water out. But sometimes, this method proves to be quite inadequate during incessant rains. Imagine what would happen if something approximating 1988's flood revisits us.
Given our nightmarish experiences of the past and the present, we think the authorities should think of devising effective strategies to resolve the city's chronic water-logging during floods and downpours. Having an adequate and modern drainage system to flush out the water could be one way.
Year after year we have to put up with increasing levels of water-logging. If timely steps were taken, even in phases, we would have by now rid ourselves of the curse substantially.
Let's pull ourselves by our bootstraps and address the problem in a focussed manner.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments