FROM PAGE 5

Canal (4.46km), and Korail Lake (2.45km).

Environment Adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan; Housing, Public Works, and Industry Adviser Adilur Rahman Khan; and LGRD Adviser Asif Mahmud Sajib Bhuiyan attended the ceremony.

After the inauguration, the advisers and officials walked to the banks of Baunia Canal, where a floating excavator had been stationed. They boarded the excavator, walking over the red carpet pathway.

The red carpet issue caused a storm on social media, with many users questioning the necessity of such a grand gesture for a canal excavation project.

During a media interaction, a journalist raised the issue with Rizwana, pointing out that previous mayor-led inaugurations had not featured such elaborate arrangements.

She responded with a smile, “I didn’t notice that. Did you?”

Earlier, Rizwana stressed the urgent need to restore Dhaka’s canals, emphasising that action must begin immediately. She warned that the neglected waterways had become breeding grounds for mosquitoes and severe pollution.

“We need better waste management in the surrounding areas,” she said, citing rampant sewage dumping and even discarded furniture in the canals. “This will no longer be tolerated.”

Addressing encroachments, she said illegal occupants would have to be removed, recognising that the process might face resistance.

According to officials, renovation work on four more canals will begin this month, with plans to start work on nine more before the rainy season.

“Our primary goal is to restore water flow. The work on all 19 canals will be done following a comprehensive master plan,” she added.

DNCC’S CLARIFICATION ON RED CARPET USE

The Dhaka North City Corporation, which hosted the event, later clarified the use of the red carpet.

It said the measure was purely for safety reasons.

It said the temporary approach way to the floating excavator was steep, muddy, and slippery, and the red mat was laid to ensure safe movement and improve walkway visibility, not as a ceremonial gesture.