RESIDENTS of large sections of Dhaka city have been facing waterlogging for days on end during every monsoon season. With seven different authorities overseeing drainage, it is hardly surprising that there is little coordination to alleviate the situation. Unplanned urbanisation has brought with it problems of solid waste filling up the few city canals still free of land grabbing by unscrupulous real estate companies. We have to contend with a lack of maintenance on the 2,000km of feeder drains that are supposed to carry rainwater to canals that are sorely lacking in capacity to do the job. Indeed, with pavements in the city preventing run-off of rainwater, it ends up flooding the streets.

A city the size of Dhaka should have had ample wetlands and floodplains to absorb the rainwater. The opposite has happened. We have allowed unscrupulous business entities to grab canals, ponds and water bodies in and around the city. There are hardly any flood flow zones; ditches and canals have either had their access blocked or have simply disappeared.

It is high time we had one single authority to overlook the drainage system of Dhaka city. Without it, we will continue to have haphazard development and maintenance of the various components that comprise the drainage system. There is little logic in having different departments maintaining segments of the system where none of these bodies have an overall picture of the situation, and hence it makes sense to have a single authority to oversee development and maintenance of drainage in Dhaka which could alleviate our collective suffering.