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Rain brings misery to Ctg people

Many roads waterlogged

Staff Correspondent, Chittagong
A moderate rainfall early yesterday submerged many areas in the port city with knee-deep water, causing misery for locals.
The city's low-lying areas — Bakalia, Chawkbazar, Agrabad, Halishahar, Kapasgola, Shulak Bahar and Bahaddarhat -- went under water. People in these areas suffered for hours due to water-logging.
The Chittagong divisional Met Office recorded 59 millimetres of rainfall till noon.
Visiting the localities in the noon, this correspondent saw water overflowing into shops and houses. People were busy pumping out water from their premises.
The KB Aman Ali Road and DC Road in Bakalia area were under knee-deep water till noon, though the rain
stopped around 7:00am.
Residents in these areas expressed their resentment over the indifference of Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) to addressing the water-logging problem.
Every rainy season, Agrabad area gets waterlogged, but the CCC seems to turn a blind eye to this problem, complained Delwar Hossain, a local.
Movement of vehicles on the streets becomes almost impossible and a very few rickshaws ply the streets.
As a result, most commuters cannot hire rickshaws to reach their destinations and are compelled to wade through the filthy water overflowing from roadside drains.
Suraiya Akhter, a resident of Dewan Bazar, was taking her daughter from school at Kapasgola. Waiting for about
an hour in front of the school, she could not manage a rickshaw.
The rickshaw pullers refuse to cross the DC Road as it goes under water. “I offered high fares to many of them, but they didn't agree,” she said.
A little perplexed, she started walking through the murky water with her daughter.
Talking to The Daily Star, CCC councillor Bijoy Kishan Chowdhury blamed it on unplanned construction in the city.
“The CCC has done a lot to address the problem,” claimed Bijoy, also chairman of CCC committee on waterlogging.
The city corporation alone cannot address the problem, rather cooperation between Chittagong Water Supply and Sewerage Authority, Chittagong Development
Authority and the CCC is imperative, he said.
To solve the problem, the CCC in November last year had initiated a project. Five hundred workers were hired under this project and around 40 lakh cubic feet of soil was excavated from different canals using 14 excavators, he mentioned.
The scheme has ended in April.
“We have submitted a project proposal to dig a canal from Bahaddarhat to the Karnaphuli river,” said Bijoy adding, the proposal is under consideration of the local government ministry.
The seven-kilometre canal will pass through Khawza Road and the project cost has been estimated at Tk297 crore.
He hoped the waterlogging problem will ease considerably after completion of the project.