& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Millions desperate for end to waterlogging

Experts suggest opening blocked canals, setting up permanent pumps, sluice gates to end miseries inside DND embankment

ABDUL KADER
More than one million people are battling chaos from weeks of waterlogging in much of Demra and Narayanganj, as canals inside the DND dam are blocked.
Waterlogging inside the Dhaka-Narayanganj-Demra dam shut schools in the area that reeks of polluted water mixed with household and industrial waste.
People are struggling to cope with an acute shortage of drinking water, power and gas and the rampage of skin diseases triggered by waterlogging.
"We had moved to the capital by boat, as there were canals before the DND dam was built," 60-year-old Sukur Ali Mia, a Sarulia resident in Demra now living inside the DND dam, recalled his childhood.
"We had travelled from the Shitalakkhya to the Buriganga via Dholaikhal by boat, but roads and the dam cut the river links, leaving us to suffer inside," he said.
On anti-waterlogging measures, ANH Akhter Hossain, managing director of Dhaka Water and Sewerage Authority (Wasa), told The
SEE PAGE 11 COL 7 FORM PAGE 12
Daily Star: "The blocked channels in Fatulla, Pagla, Postogola and Shyampur, which once streamed into the Buriganga, have to be opened."
At least four permanent pump houses and five regulator sluice gates are needed in the area to cut waterlogging, Akhter Hossain said, adding only one pump house in Shimrail in Narayanganj is now in operation to pump the DND water into the Shitalakkhya.
Twenty pumps under Wasa are in operation in different places of DND with the capacity of pumping out 5 cubic feet a second.
Asked, Rajuk Chief Engineer M Emdadul Islam said: "We started a project three months ago to lay out a new detailed plan on the DND and its environs, which is different from the 1999 small-scale DND project." The 1999 plan stalled in strong public opposition.
The new plan will be finalised in two years with the participation of local residents to avoid disputes, he said.
Kazi Golam Mustafa, chief engineer (central zone) of Bangladesh Water Development Board, said 1,300 hectares of the 5,679 hectares land in the area are still cultivable.
"About 85 percent of the land was used in constructing houses, mills and factories and roads, while 15 percent is still cultivable."
About 370 lakh cubic metres of water were logged inside the DND during Bangladesh's record downpour on September 11-17, which was pumped out to 250 lakh cubic metres. But another spell of rain added 130 lakh cubic metres of
water to waterlogging.
Urban expert Professor Nazrul Islam said the runaway construction of houses and other structures worsened the situation.
"If Wasa takes the responsibility to resolve the drainage problem, it will be better," he said, adding Wasa has enough expertise.
Referring to fast-track urbanisation in Dhaka without preserving canals and other water bodies as devastating, he said there were several canals in the DND.
He suggested new canals should be excavated zoning the DND into three parts -- east, west and south -to minimise waterlogging.
Golam Mustafa recommended that the DND should be brought under Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) to provide urban amenities because of high population concentration leading to fast urbanisation of DND area, which was once home to only 20,000 people.
Ruling BNP lawmaker Salauddin Ahmed of Dhaka-4 constituency that covers most of DND area said a step would be taken by the year-end to retrieve and excavate the grabbed canals and channels in the DND for easy flow of rainwater.
M Giasuddin Ahmed, lawmaker of the Narayanganj-4 constituency that straddles part of DND area, said he sent a proposal to government high-ups to hand the charge of DND to Wasa to manage drainage better, adding a new survey is crucial to drainage management.
The DND dam was built between 1962 and 1968 as part of an irrigation project to farm land three times year, WDB officials said.