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Lasting waterlogging looms in Dhaka

STAFF CORRESPONDENT
Permanent waterlogging might add to Dhaka's miseries unless the government takes immediate steps to dredge the city's water bodies and halts the illegal encroachment of their banks, speakers told a roundtable yesterday.
Trapped rain and floodwater, mixing with sewage and other chemicals may lead to serious health hazards, they cautioned.
The speakers identified eastern Dhaka's Gulshan, Hazaribagh and Badda and western Dhaka's Kalyanpur and Mohammadpur as the regions most susceptible to waterlogging.
The roundtable was co-organised by Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (Bapa) and Institute of Architects, Bangladesh (IAB).
Dhaka receives much less rainfall than it used to even five years ago, and waterlogging should decrease, said
Professor Firoz Ahmed, acting chairman of Water and Sewage Authority (Wasa). Speakers also pointed out that while water has already receded from almost all other flood-hit areas, some areas of the city still remain inundated, which proves that this water has no outlet.
They attributed this to the silting of river and canal beds, filling-up of canal interconnections with waste, the illegal encroachment of water bodies and the flatness of Dhaka.
SM Wahed, a former chairman of Wasa, said the flood protection embankment from Sadarghat to Gabtoli blocks the city's drainage system, obstructing the normal flow of water and sewage in the city.
The concrete covering 90 percent of the city's land area hampers the absorption of surface rainwater, said Masroor-ul-Haq Siddiqi, a former
official of Water Development Board (WDB). He also indicated the city's immense population density contributes indirectly to waterlogging. "Where will the waste and sewage of so many people go?" he asked.
The influx of Dhaka-bound immigrants only intensifies this congestion, said Prof Mozaffar Ahmed, one of the vice-chairmen of Bapa. He called for a government plan for the decentralisation of opportunities for employment and business.
Bapa General Secretary Abu Naser Khan urged the WDB, Wasa and Rajuk to consider the matter seriously to protect Dhaka from waterlogging. He urged the government to immediately earmark the water bodies for the next dredging plan and to demolish illegal structures from their banks.
"All must come forward to save
the lakes because these recharge underground water, purify the water that flows to the main rivers, regulate the temperature of Dhaka City and maintain the water flow of the rivers in the winter," Abu Naser said.
Badiul Alam of Bangladesh Environment Journalists Forum said Rajuk is the biggest encroacher of the lakes and canals of Dhaka. Most of the encroachments have political links, he alleged, adding that without political goodwill it is not possible to stop illegal encroachment.
Architect Mobasher Hossain of Bapa urged civil society's involvement in the water management and ecology preservation projects of the government.