With the monsoon lurking round the corner, the issue of water-logging has, quite expectedly come to the fore, again, for public discussions. The Dhakaites are more worried than any time before as the problem gradually turned worse and became almost unmanageable. The residents of the capital city are, in fact, fearing for the worst to happen in the coming days. This is so, despite the fact that the minister holding the portfolio of local government ministry had promised a water logging-free capital city during the upcoming rainy season. They have no reason to pin much hope on the minister's assurance since no activity is visible until now to properly drain out rain water and rid roads and residential areas of the problem of water-logging.
Against the backdrop of such a disquieting situation, the Dhaka Water and Sewerage Authority (DWASA) at a 'views exchange' session with the newsmen on Monday last, tried to assuage the city dwellers' concern with an assurance that the intensity of water-logging would be less this year. The DWASA is one of the multiple agencies involved with the maintenance of the city's drainage system. But its chief, who spoke at the session, did fail to place a credible plan to rid the city of a serious problem like widespread water-logging. Mere assurances will not anyway help any of the agencies in their respective bid to solve the problem.
The DWASA - the agency responsible for the maintenance of major drains and canals - has not done anything substantive during the last four dry months. It plans to start activities such as 're-excavation of canals, maintenance of drains and installation of temporary pump stations from the current month. Since there remains a strong possibility of a couple or more spells of rain in the months of April and May, the execution of programmes is likely to suffer. Though the WASA chief did not make any complaint about not receiving sufficient funds from the government for necessary maintenance of the city's drainage system, inadequate allocation remains a reality. The agency, reportedly, was not given even one-tenth of the fund it had sought for the current fiscal year (FY). Such miserly behaviour on the part of the relevant ministry does make the LGRD (local government and rural development) minister's assurance about a water-logging-free Dhaka rather hollow.
The suggestion that one single agency should be given the responsibility of maintaining the city's drainage system is quite a valid one. But that does not anyway solve the problem of such a gigantic proportion. Fulfilment of, at least, two basic conditions -- cleaning of all surface and underground drains and natural and man-made canals to help ensure uninterrupted discharge of both household waste water and rain water and availability of sufficient wetland to hold the same -- is necessary to avoid water-logging in the city. Neglect and indifference on the part of relevant government agencies and lack of awareness on the part of a section of city residents for many decades have brought the situation to an unmanageable state. A large part of the city's wetland disappeared during the past many decades; only 2.0 per cent of its land area is now wetland as against the minimum requirement of 12 per cent.
However, the problem can be fixed, to a large extent. What is needed most is a determined and well-coordinated move, backed by strong leadership and adequate allocation of resources, to execute programmes aimed at ridding the city of water-logging problem. There were some instances in the recent past where firm stance on the part of one individual -- late Dhaka North City Corporation mayor Annisul Huq -- had helped resolve a number of chronic city problems. If not fully, the problem of water-logging can be resolved, at least, partially if the relevant leadership demonstrates such a strong will to make it happen.
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