With the rainy season knocking at the door, the fear of water logging and inundation of low-lying areas have again gripped the people of the Chittagong city as re-excavation of sewers and canals to drain out water remain neglected for years.

The drains of the city filled with tons of mud, silts and garbage remain as a constant threat throwing the city dwellers into a nightmarish experience even after a little downpour.

If the number of canals and drains could not be increased as per growth of population of the city, the drainage system of the city would collapse. Chaktai Khal (Chaktai canal), the backbone of the sewerage system of the city, has now become the 'sorrow of Chittagong'.

The Chaktai Khal along with four other canals Jamal Khan Khal (canal), Mirza Khal, Hizra Khal and Chatteswary Khal drains out the rain water as well as the sewer water from most of the city area.

A medium scale downpour creates water logging even at the outset of the rainy season and floods vast areas of the city causing a huge damage to the properties as a portion of the canal is filled up.

Without having any major excavation for around two decades, the Chaktai Khal and its attached ones started causing inundation and water logging in the mid eighties.

The projects earmarked for reexcavation of Chaktai Khal, were partially implemented.

A project of Tk. two crore was taken up by Chittagong City Corporation about three years back. Under the project 4935-metre Chaktai Khal was supposed to be excavated and made brick-soled with silt-traps at regular intervals and around 4 kms of it was to be renovated with 'retaining walls' on both the sides.

But the project had fallen flat and the equipment such as dredging machines are now lying idle. Misappropriation of the project money was also reported in different dailies.

Earlier, an initiative for reexcavation and renovation of the canal was taken under a World Bank financed project Environmental Development Project in 1989. Under the project an excavation work was done spending some TK66 lakh during the tenure of Mayor Mahmudul Islam Chowdhury.

Later, during the tenure of Mayor Mir Mohammad Nasir Uddin Chowdhury, another renovation and re-excavation project was taken to be implemented under the supervision of a committee comprising representatives from all parties.

Under the project about 1200 metres of the canal stretching from Bahodderhut to Dhunirpole (to the east of Chawk Bazar) was reexcavated with a width of 52ft and depth of 8 ft and retaining walls were built on both the sides of the said portion. About two hectares of land were recovered from the encroachers and illegal occupants that provided 4 ft wide paths on each side of the canal there. The project of Tk. 3 crore ended in 1995 leaving the rest 3795 metres of the canal from Dhunirpole to Khalerpole without renovation.

Since then no initiative was taken for renovation or reexcavation for the next three years and the said renovated portion of the canal had also been silted up to three feet while condition of the rest, needless to say, worsened. Eroded soil, loosen earth from the illegally cut hills, garbage and other sewage were carried and deposited to the canal continuously.

Having no retaining wall , the brink and sides of the canal also slid and collapsed, tons of garbage and husks thrown from the local poultry farms, rice mills and sawmills started filling up the canal in an alarming rate. Encroachments on both the sides from Dhunirpole to Khalerpole (a stretch of around four kms) hindered the flow of the drain water through it.

Moreover, a huge pile of logs, bamboos, mud at the outlet of the canal and rising up of the bed of the river Karnaphuli ,the canal flows into further worsened the situation. The rise of river-bed along with two other said factors virtually blocked the flow of water through the canal.

With the latest project taken in the middle of the year 1999 reportedly falling flat, the situation and suffering of the people living there has further aggravated by now. As water getting into the different godowns of the commercial hubs of Khatunganj and Chaktai, it caused huge loss to the businessmen and untold suffering to lakhs of local people and became a common phenomenon of every year. There won't be any exception in the coming rainy season also, local people said.

In absence of proper reexcavation and renovation Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) removes deposited soil and mud from its bed spending lakhs of taka every year to maintain the mare flow of the canal. But this 'effort' goes in vain.

Moreover, as the canal does not have any brick-soled bed, some dishonest contractors got ample scopes for practising fraudulence to remove less soil and mud than they agreed to.

According to a highly placed source, to maintain the drainage system, CCC requires around Tk. 30 lakh a year. "If the canal is properly renovated and excavated, besides saving the city dwellers from inundation and water logging, it would save around Tk. 15 lakh from the money spent for maintenance of the drainage system every year," a CCC official told The Daily Star preferring anonymity.

"But the re-excavation and renovation of Chaktai Khal alone won't be sufficient, unless the deposition of mud and piles of logs and bamboos are removed from the outlet of the canal and the river Karnaphuli, he added.

"However, the part of the canal at the junction and the Karnaphuli are under the control of Chittagong Port Authority (CPA)," he said, "besides, dredging and removal of silts and mud from those points would cost around Tk. 1 crore which CCC would not be able to spend every year." Sources in CCC suggested that CPA could take some initiative in this regard considering the suffering of the people.

If CPA takes such initiative, many would be interested to come forward to dredge those points at cheaper rate to have earth and soil free of cost, they added.