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TAWFIQUE ALI
A severe water crisis in School Road area near Kuril road crossing in Dhaka persists for more than a month, causing unbearable sufferings to local residents.
The area under Zone-5 of the Dhaka Water and Sewerage Authority (Wasa) is getting scant supply of water from the local Kuril and Kuratali pumps of Wasa.
Wasa water is available only for 30 minutes anytime between 3:00am and 4:00am. Sometimes that also does not happen keeping people sleepless throughout the night in the hope of collecting water, local people said.
They were facing shortage of water for the last three months but the situation worsened last month. Now they mainly depend on waters of Basundhara Jheel, rain water or water brought from distant neighbours.
The water crisis is also causing diseases like diarrhoea and dermatitis in the area.
Narrating their plight, Md Hashem Mia, a resident of the area, said they got meagre supply of water late night only thrice last month. "I had to go to my daughter's
house at Kanthalbagan to have a bath. We somehow live fetching drinking water from distant neighbours," he said.
Thirty-nine children of sex workers and four resident staff of a shelter run by Nari Unnayan Sakti, a non-government organisation, are among the sufferers.
"It has been quite difficult to cope with recurrence of diarrhoea and skin diseases among the children due to acute water crisis for the last one month," said Sanjida, a vocational trainer of the children.
"We sometimes take the children to Basundhara Jheel or on the roof of the house during rains for bathing and washing of their clothes. We are to spend Tk 120 a day to buy 120 litres of drinking water brought by a rikshwapuller," she added.
Syed Nazrul Islam, a resident of the area, said, "We applied to the engineer concerned of Wasa Zone-5 about two months ago, seeking a solution to the persisting water crisis but nothing has been done as yet."
Local Ward Commissioner of the Dhaka City Corporation Kazi Hazrat Ali said, "The engineer, Kabir Ahmed, said water crisis in the area cannot be resolved without installing another water pump."
"We are now trying to have a piece of land for installing a pump and we are also ready to pay for it locally."
Wasa sub-divisional engineer of the area Shafiqur Rahman said the Kuril pump could not meet the water requirement of the area. Kuratali pump is not supposed to supply water in this area, he mentioned.
"A new pump can relieve local people of the sufferings and Wasa will install one if a suitable piece of land is found in the area."