CCC hopes to reduce waterlogging
Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) excavates the Chaktai canal ahead of rainy season. The photo was taken from Dhunirpul area of Chawkbazar on Monday.Photo: Zobaer Hossain Sikder
Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) hopes to rid the city of the serious waterlogging up to 90 percent this year with the completion of dredging and widening work of the canals and drains before the upcoming rainy season. Sources said the work for dredging and widening of 144 canals in the port city started in December last year that would be completed this month. After the devastating waterlogging of June 11, 2007, CCC began the dredging and widening work after an interval of two years in 2007 that reduced around 70 percent of waterlogging in the city last year. It started the work at a cost of around Tk 3 crore using sophisticated excavators that helps to do the work within shortest possible time and reduce the cost, said the sources. The canals are being dredged 12 to 15 feet deep and widened 30 feet while lack of roads alongside the canals are hampering the work to some extent. The authorities are stockpiling the extracted soil from the canals at distant places so that those cannot be washed away and fall again with rainwater. The major canals, which were dredged and widened, include Mohesh Khal (canal) near Police Line at Halishahar, Chaktai Khal from Chamra Gudam to Bohoddar Hat, Bamun Shahi Khal, Mirza Khal and Dom Khal at Chandgaon, Chashma Khal and Noa Khal at Sholokbahar, Shital Jharna at Panchlaish, Rampur Khal at Rampur, Gahona Chhara at Halishahar, Bahar Khal at Saraipara, Birza Khal at East Sholoshahar, Tripura Khal at West Sholoshahar, Bangshal Para Chhara at North Pathantuli and Nasir Khan Chhara in North Agrabad area, said the sources. CCC Sholokbahar Ward Councillor Ahmadur Rahman Siddiqui said Chashma Khal, Mirza Khal and some portion of Noa Khal under his ward were dredged this year and would be able to pass the rainwater through it. Ahmadur hoped that the waterlogging would surely reduce to a great extent this year. Siddique Ahmed Chowdhury, ward councillor of South Kattali which is waterlogging prone area, said flow of water through Mohesh Khal and Gohona Chhara under his ward would be higher than the previous year as these were cleaned well this year. CCC Executive Engineer Abu Saleh said they have formed several teams for instant work at the canals whether they have silted up again after the work. “Solid wastes dumping by the unaware city dwellers is one of the main causes of waterlogging as the wastes create obstacles to flowing the rainwater,” Saleh said, adding that construction of roads on the bank of the canals are needed to run the excavators which perform several times higher than the manual labourers. He said they need a magistrate to recover or acquire lands to construct roads on the bank of the canals since long and mass awareness is a must to rid of the serious waterlogging. He hoped that the waterlogging would reduce up to 90 percent this year. But, if the tidal upsurge befell en masse with the heavy rainfall the city dwellers might experience waterlogging as the water from the river would enter the city due to lack of sluice gates in the mouth of the canal.
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