& 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

Wasa supplying filths

Forces residents of many areas to buy drinking water

Tawfique Ali
City dwellers in several areas are suffering from severe contamination of water fouled with earthworms, filth and stench.
The areas where residents are getting such polluted water, supplied by the Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Wasa), include parts of Motijheel. Ramna, Shantinagar. Mugdapara, Khilgaon, Dhanmondi and Uttara.
"Wasa water has been dirty, stinky and infested with young earthworms for the last five to six months. It is not usable at all," said Shamima Akhtar, a resident of MotijheelT&T Colony.
“We have been buying drinking water, or fetching it from nearby pump house at Rajarbagh.”
Although contamination of Wasa water is nothing new, it used to get alright after a certain period in the previous years. But this time it is persisting, said Shamima. who has been a resident of the colony for about 12 years.
Many of the around 240 families residing in the colony filter the polluted water somehow to do their daily household chores, she said.
In this situation, water-starved people crowd Razarbagh pump house every day, locals said.
Ruby Akhtar, another resident of the colony, said, “Young earthworms come out with stinky water whenever we open taps." She mentioned that Wasa water which was murky for a long period is now clear but it contains earthworms and emits stench.
Touhida Roksana, a resident of Shimul Tower of Ramna thana complex police quarters, said water contamination started in March but it has now worsened so much that water is not usable at all.
“We cannot bathe and do other domestic work as tap water contains earthworms,” she said.
Touhida s family also brings drinking water from Rajarbagh pump.
Around 100 families reside at the complex.
Roksana Panin of Shantinagar also said they get water that hosts earthworm.
Jahangir Khan, a resident of Uttara Sector-10 said.Wasa water has been filthy for about an year. The situation deteriorates during dry season and improves during rainy season.
Fahmida Haq, a resident at Dhanmondi Road-6/A, said water at her house is often soiled.
Aeysha Hamid, a resident at Gulshan Road-7, said some-umes they get dirty water.
Amit Hasan of Mugdapara and Ahmed Sharif Shuva of Khilgaon also complained of getting dirty and stinky water at times.
Ihe complainants however said the situation improves at times.
Contacted, Wasa Managing Director (MD) Shahjahan Ali Mollah said the possible reasons behind contamination of water are unclean reservoirs at subscribers' houses, run down supply lines of Wasa installed during British and Pakistan periods and illegal connections with water supply lines. Derelict lines may get rusted and leaked causing link-up of sewer lines with water lines, and resulting in water contamination, he said.
The Wasa MD said the government has undertaken a hi-tech project funded by Asian Development Bank (ADB) to rehabilitate 3,500 km of Wasa water supply lines in the city without road digging. The city now has a 3000-km network of water supply lines.
"The project will be completed by 2013," he said. "Water supply will then improve significantly."
Under the project, water supply lines are being reinstalled at old Elephant Road and Gulshan Road -103 as a pilot scheme without digging roads, he mentioned.
Advocate Rahmat Ali, chairman of the parliamentary sanding committee on the LGRD ministry, when contacted, said," When the parliament's next session begins, we will form an expert committee to investigate the reasons behind water- supply problems and sufferings ofeity dwellers."
LGRD Minister Syed Ashraful Islam could not be contacted as his personal staff said the minister was sick.