Port city suffers on 2nd day of inundation
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them to take shelter in local schools but they preferred to go to their relatives’ houses.”
Visiting the low-lying areas in the city, this correspondent found that Chawkbazar, Bahaddarhat, Muradpur, Sholashahar Gate No 2, Badurtola, Bakalia DC Road, KB Aman Ali Road, Agrabad, Halishahar, Chandgaon, Katalganj, Shulakbahar and Dewan Bazar areas went under knee-to-waist-deep water.
People’s suffering increased as the shops and houses in those areas were flooded. Most of the roadside shops in Badurtola area remained shut in the morning. The shop owners said rainwater made it impossible for them to stay inside.
Talking to this correspondent, Shafiqul Alam, a shop owner in Badurtola area, said, “Following heavy rain, my shop was flooded on Thursday night. I bailed out all the water the next afternoon only to find out that it was flooded again at night.”
“If we bail the water today, it will be flooded again as the rain continues to pour. That’s why most of the owners did not open their shops today,” he added.
The ground floor of Chawk Super Market in Chawkbazar area has remained submerged since Friday. Murky water, smelling of filth, entered the ground-floor shops and damaged goods and products.
The road from Telipatti to Chawkbazar Kitchen Market went under knee-deep water. People were seen to wade through filthy water spilling from roadside drains.
Taposi Ghosh, a resident of West Bakalia DC Road area, was plodding through filthy water on a stretch of the road. She said she was going to the hospital to attend to her mother-in-law.
“There are no vehicles to ply the road. I just found two rickshaws but the pullers demanded a high fare that I cannot afford,” she said.
PASSING THE BUCK
Although Chattogram Development Authority (CDA) has been implementing a mega project worth Tk 5,617 crore to address waterlogging in the city, the city dwellers alleged that the project did not benefit them in any way even five years after the project was initiated.
Many pointed their fingers at the Chattogram City Corporation for not cleaning up the canals and drains regularly.
Contacted, Mayor of Chattogram City Corporation Rezaul Karim Chowdhury told The Daily Star that there are two canals in Bahaddarhat area -- Chaktai Khal and Birja Khal.
“The CDA has been working with the canals under the mega project but no earth has been dredged from them,” he said, adding, “That’s why the canals cannot carry the rainwater and so waterlogging occurs in the area whenever it rains.”
“The CDA authorities are seen to build protection walls along the canals but they do not dredge the canals,” the CCC mayor pointed out.
When this correspondent reached out to CDA project director Lt Col Shah Ali, he said they dredged some canals but had to leave some others out as they had to build retaining walls first.
“If we go to dredge the canals before building retaining walls, the buildings and establishments on the banks of those canals will be damaged,” he explained.
Asked why they did not build retaining walls along all the canals in five years, Shah Ali said, “We could not move vehicles along the banks of many of the canals as those are too narrow. So, we asked the district administration to acquire land and go for evicting illegal occupations from the banks.”
Blaming the waterlogging on the CCC’s failure to clean up the drains regularly, the CDA project director also said, “Dredging of canals was not the reason for waterlogging. Another reason for waterlogging was that the drains were clogged. The CCC workers did not clean those regularly.”
LANDSLIDE WARNING AND EVACUATION IN RANGAMATI
The Rangamati district administration also issued a directive about evacuating people from their homes on hill slopes.
Residents in Shimultoli, Rupnagar, Loknath Temple and Bhedbhedi Muslim Para areas in Rangamati were asked to move to shelters. The local administration has opened 19 shelters in nine wards of Rangamati town in this connection.
“There is a risk of landslides in the district due to torrential rain over the last several days and that’s why the local administration asked the residents to take shelter in safer places,” said Rangamati District Commissioner Mohammad Mosharraf Hossain Khan.