One thought that Dhaka as a city was very special, in that every drizzle transforms it into a Venice of sorts. Although the* city seems to have been spared a repeat performance of the 1988 visitation — which is unfortunately not the case with our northern districts — a week hardly passes here without its being deluged by milllme- * tres of rain.

By now every intelligent and Informed citizen knows about the factors contributing to this dubious distinction of our capital city. Dhaka has grown exponentially since 1947 when it became the capital of this part of Pakistan. And in spite of there being such organisations as the Dhaka Improvement Trust or the present-day Rajuk for controlling and guiding this growth — the one inescapable fact of the matter is that this has happened without any plan whatsoever. We are now paying the price of filling up all the waterways and water reservoirs. The suicidal game still goes on in the name of a multi-billion taka protection embankment or in the form of leaving no space for the city to breathe.

Dhaka's growth hasn't been matched by any other town in the land. Chittagong or Khulna has spread but not on Dhaka's scale. As almost all our towns lag far behind Dhaka In building activity, it was thought that the price of unplanned growth as paid by Dhaka needn't have to be paid hy the other towns. This is being proved wrong. The Daily Star printed on Monday a four-column picture of a submerged city road — the caption says the place is Station Road, Mymensingh.

Why must the Mymensingh roads drown after a shower ? There is no precedent of such occurrence in the town’s history. And in September alone the town has been inundated at least twice by rainwater.

We have not so much an explanation of this but a sneaking suspicion. When government started felling trees in Dhaka on a mass scale in the later half of Seventies, making way for neon-sign Juggleries may be, all of the towns followed suit without exception. The towns have an irrepressible way of copying Dhaka — look at the sodium lights even at Bhola — rather than developing on their own peculiar charms and good points. Mymensingh and many other towns must have copied Dhaka's rape of hydrological dictates exactly as they have done in the matter undermining environment.

This is one thing the towns must shun.