DHAKA is used to rains. It is also used to stoppages. Several times every monsoon, the city's workforce finds itself grid-locked or stranded. Everyone wades home after a few exhausting hours, and the next morning things return to normal. But on Tuesday (July 28) it was different The city that never stops shut down.

What took Dhaka by surprise was the volume and intensity of the rain. It rained incessantly from Monday night till Tuesday morning - 333 mm - the highest ever recorded in a day in the last sixty years. Its impact was almost apocalyptic. The city's overburdened transport network always takes the first hit, and not only the city's commercial heart but also the entire city stopped beating. In many places power grids collapsed, and nine people died by coming in contact with fallen live electric wires. It mid-day when they realide that this was no ordinary monsoon day.

Most city areas went under knee-deep water, and the shanty towns and slums in Mirpur and Mohammadpur were the worst sufferers. By the morning ofTuesday they found their huts under knee-deep water and had to take shelter in nearby buildings. With the collapse of the city's transport network, most people had to wade back home. The result was pandemonium on the streets, with even the main roads including the road dividers inundated and traffic coming to a halt

The abnormal water-logging can be attributed to congestion of drains because of the ineffective underground sewerage system. The 43 canals that crisscrossed the city are now totally non-existent. Dhaka Wasa sources claim that they have recovered 12 plus canals, but they are yet to be functional because they have neither the depth nor width to receive such a heavy volume of water.

Little did the planners realise that the "mega city" they were and are contemplating to build would turn into a hell-hole and become unlivable a few years from now. With drainage congestion exacerbated by dumping of solid waste into the drains this paradise city has turned into a choking helL

Even during the Moghul period or British colonial rule urbanisation took place with the highest attention attached to sewage management A cursory look at old Dhaka will reveal that although at that time roads were narrow, the drains were wide and deep to allow passage of water and wastes with little hindrance. The ubiquitous polythene that causes abnormal drainage congestion these days was not there in those days.

Dhaka city could once boast of at least 22 canals that would have allowed easy and quick passage and disposal of wastes without creating water-logging in any area. But due to greed, and need, we have filled up the canals and marshy lands to develop housing for the growing population of the city.

Sprawling residential areas have sprung up through earth filling. By constructing an embankment around some of these places we could withstand the onslaught of flood- water, but what avenues did we leave to prevent water logging due to

internal flooding or heavy rainfall? If there was excess rain in the past then there was enough room forwater to runoff.

The absence of a modern storm water drainage system has been blamed for such water logging. To call the present system antiquated would perhaps be incorrect because a large part of it was installed a hundred years ago, but it is bearing a far greater burden ttianifwasdesigr|e^to/J

Initially, the new land created from the wetland or river banks was kept as nodevelopment zone, but has recently been opened up for development. This means concretisation of these lands. If you concretise land, then the soil is unable to soak in the water. This is a double loss, because the underground aquifers are also not generated. In other cases, wetlands and wastelands act like sponges and relieve the pressure in abnormal situations.

The city's development plan earmarked lands for gardens and playgrounds. But with pressure from the affluent section and developers mounting, these are being dereserved at a phenomenal rate. In the past, politicians, Rajuk, DCC and DoE were involved in such a vile process. It's a very carefully planned strategy. It is a transition from wetland to waste land and then to wealth land.

To be sure, all these development works after liberation were done with a myopic vision. Environment was never a part -and largely still isn't - of either the government's or Rajuk's or city corporation's agenda of action. Historical records reveal that in the Dhaka city development plan of 1917, highest importance was given to conserving the Dolaikhal and other khals and navigational facilities in the adjacent rivers. But, today, even the Buriganga faces extinction due to human onslaught.

The 20-year city development plan formulated in 1997 emphasised maintenance and conservation of sewerage lines, installation of pumping stations, and strengthening of city protection embankments. The report suggested construction of structures on pillar in the flood prone areas to allow free flowofwaterduringhigh rainfall and flood. The recommendation emphasised the construction of 30 large tanks in different locations of the city to prevent water logging. Shockingly, most of the tanks that already existed have been filled up.

Despite the fact that rainfall is not too high these days because of adverse climatic situation and freakish weather pattern due to global warming, water-logging is still a problem. It is not true that neither the public nor the^political leaders and policy makers 'Mewwh&‘£cttially played havoc and compounded the problems.

The governments in the past did nothing, and the trend still continues. What is more appalling is that the people don't protest, and even if they have protested in any locality these are hardly listened to.

The reason for such a sorry state of the city is that Dhaka, one of the ill-planned cities in the world, has seen a consistent rise in population over the last two

decades. But the needed infrastructural requirements' have been ignored. In a sense, Dhaka is being strangulated.

Hamstrung by medieval infrastructure, despite the millions of taka spent in different projects, the city presents a dismal picture in respect of water supply, sanitation facilities, waste disposal and drainage system. The sewerage or drainage system covers only 160 sq kin of the total 360 sq km of the capital city. About 50 percent of the urban waste is allowed to decompose and putrefy on the roadside. Quite a substantial portion of it goes into the open drains, choking them permanently and creating slush and stink all around. The result is that, after even a mild shower, the roads and few open spaces left after the helter-skelter construction of apartment blocks become inundated.

Perhaps the best proof of this is the land

developed by filling marshy land in Ashulia, Tongi, Mirpur and DND embankment area. All these complexes were built on marshes that surround the mouth of the Buriganga river. In the early '90s, or even later, when Rajuk gave the nod to land grabbers for filling up these low lying areas, environmentalists warned of a possible backlash.

Because of the commercial promike they held, many such projects required no environmental clearance. And, at the same time, the concerned ministry failed to exercise its authority to stop this foul game, and now the city dwellers have to bear the brunt of the past follies and mistakes of uncaring gove mm en ts.

Md. Asadullah Khan is a former teacher of physics and

Controller of Examinations, BUET. e-mail : aukhantxi@gmail.com