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Nor any drop to drink

True, the grave situation is not the making of this government. It is the outcome of rampant corruption, gross negligence and lack of planning on the part of the governments that were in power before. It is now the responsibility of the incumbent government to address the issue.

Husain Imam
THE residents of Dhaka city are in dire straits because of water shortage. In many areas, people have to go without water for days together. To add fuel to the fire, the weather has been persistently dry and sultry and the residents have to go without electricity every alternate hour of the day.
Last night we saw the residents of some of the worst hit areas of the city telling a television crew about their untold sufferings because of water crisis. The little water they get through Wasa pipelines is not fit for human consumption because of serious contamination.
Some housewives told the television crew that they could do without electricity but not without water. They were damn right. Nobody can think of life without water. The government had better listen to these people with all the urgency and do something on a war footing to mitigate their sufferings, unless they want to see a repetition of similar or more fearsome incidents than Kansat and Shanir Akhra.
True, the grave situation is not the making of this government. It is the outcome of rampant corruption, gross negligence and lack of planning on the part of the governments that were in power before. It is now the responsibility of the incumbent government to address the issue.
We cannot but feel pity for the chairman of Wasa when we see him trying to pass the buck to the PDB for their (PDB's) inability to ensure regular supply of electricity to run the pumps. Sorry sir, the people aren't convinced. That the city is running short of electricity is not a new phenomenon. It has only worsened with time.
Why could Wasa not arrange for generators of their own to run the pumps? What answer does the chairman have to the complaint that people cannot get a water tank lorry in their areas unless they pay extra money to the staff, which is sometimes four to five times more 1 than the actualprice?
Does he have any answer to the report published in a national daily that, taking advantage of the situation, a huge quantity of diesel meant for running the generators is being pilfered by an organised syndicate in collusion with some corrupt employees ofWasa?
It's good to see that the members of parliament elected from the city constituencies have stood by the side of the residents. They have sat with the mayor of the city and discussed the issue at length and are trying to do something to alleviate the sufferings of the people. This is exactly what we expect from our elected representatives
My humble suggestions to them as well as to the government would be:
• Organise vigilance teams headed by local MPs in the worst hit areas to supervise running of the pumps installed there, to stop pilferage of diesel, to reduce system loss and also to distribute water till the situation improves.
• Install water-purifying equipment at sites temporarily. If need be, take help of the armed forces. The government might consider asking for help of US marines in this regard. We have seen them distilling seawater and supply drinking water to the cyclone hit people of the coastal areas
• Supply adequate number of generators on emergency basis to run the
pumps during load shedding, and undertake a comprehensive plan to repair or replace the existing pumps, generators and pipelines.
• Complete the second phase of Sayedabad water purifying plant as early as possible.
• Restore the lakes, ponds and canals of the city, and build a number of water reservoirs in and around the city to collect rainwater during the rainy season.
• Buringanga, Dhaleshawri, Sitalakhya and Turag are lifelines for the people of Dhaka. Save them from pollution at any cost. Otherwise, the days are not far off when we have to say, "water, water, every where, nor any drop to drink"
• Constitute a task force of experts, if need be hiring one or two experts from abroad, to take stock of the whole situation and advise our planners and policy makers to adopt means to overcome the situation on short-term, mid-term and long term basis.
• Corruption in Wasa is believed to be one of the main causes for this sad state of affairs. Why don't the Anticorruption Commission and the parliamentary standing committee see to what extent they can dig out and eradicate the malaise ftom this organisation?
Capt Husain Imam is a retired merchant navy officer.