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50,000 suffer in DND waterlogged area

Helemul Alam
Ashraf, a security guard at an ATM booth of Dutch Bangla Bank Limited in Mirerbagh, has been wearing lungi instead of his uniform while coming to his workplace from home since Tuesday. The reason is but to save his uniform from getting soaked, as dirty water has submerged most parts of his route to work for the last four days.
*1 wear the uniform once I reach the ATM booth. After the day's duty, I have to change the dress again to keep it dry for the next day,' he said.
The rainwater also flooded his house at Mirajnagar and he had to put three bricks under each leg of his cot to keep it above water.
The recent spells of torrential rain have triggered waterlogging in the Dhaka-Narayanganj-Demra (DND) embankment area and caused immense sufferings to around 50,000 people living there.
The waterlogging exposed the poor drainage system of this area.
Purba Mohammadbagh, Munshibagh Bridge, Miraznagar in Kadamtali, Shyampur, Shonir Akhra
and Doniya are the worst affected areas due to a clogged drainage system.
Abul Kalam, a restaurant owner in Mirajnagar, could not open his restaurant as the surrounding area has been inundated by knee-deep waterffomTuesday.
"I have to incur a loss ofTk 15,000 due to th is,'he said.
Sirajul Islam, a rickshaw garage owner at Mirajnagar, said he had to count a loss ofTk 40,000 last month as his garage went under knee-deep to waist-deep water due to the heavy rainfall."The waterlogging has also affected 50 of my rickshaw-pullers as they were unable to bring the vehicles out in the water," he said.
The waist-deep water has made it difficult for Rini Akhter of Shyampur to go kitchen markets. She has been cooking once in a day for the last three days as water had flooded her house, leaving her no option but to do the cooking on their bed.
A good number of roads, kitchen markets, business centres, houses and schools went under ankle-to-knee deep water during the current spell of rain for the last few days,
said locals.
Locals, however, blamed unplanned buildings in wetlands, illegal encroachment of low-lying areas, and a lack of regular cleaning of the drains for the situation.
Most drains that carry the rainwater remain clogged due to indiscriminate dumping of solid waste, they said.
A canal stretching from Baroitola to Matuail Shishu Hospital, which is the main channel of draining out rainwater, has shrunk over the years due to mindless encroachment and indiscriminate dumping of solid waste into it.
Ruhul Amin, executive engineer
of Dhaka division-1 of Bangladesh Water Development Board said they spent Tk 1 crore to clean 100 km long canals of the DND area this year.
Describing the condition of the canals "good" this year, he said their pumps at Shimrail have the capacity to drain out the water but they failed to do so immediately at some areas due to poor sewerage system and random garbage dumping.
To improve the situation, the authorities concerned should regularly clean the drains and the locals should refrain from dumping waste into the drains, he added.