Dhaka\'s gaping death trap

Abandoned open pipes of the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) and open sewerages in the city have turned into veritable death traps. Children in particular fall victim as much to the open traps as to the negligence of the authority concerned. The latest victim is four-year old Sabbir who lived with his parents in Mirpur near the Mirpur Commerce College. After 19 hours of his missing his body was recovered from under a heap of garbage accumulated in the sewerage near Road No.6.

Open sewerage, pipes and manholes pose danger to life.  After the tragic death of Jihad in an abandoned open pipe of a WASA pump, the utility service became somewhat active to seal open manholes and abandoned pipes. But within a year, another child named Nirob fell to his death into the sewerage pipe at Kadamtoli. His body was carried away into the river Buriganga by the current of the sewerage water. This was followed by the death of six years old Sanjida in the canal of Mohakhali.

Of all these child deaths, Sanjida's is certainly accidental. But the other deaths were avoidable. In a capital city like Dhaka, no agency ought to be as callous as the WASA to leave an open pipe without a cover. A small boy Jihad fell into it when he was playing with his playmates. The same was the case with Nirob. An abandoned pipe and a sewerage pipe turned into death traps to suck in two lives prematurely. The utility service should take the blame and must be made to pay compensation to the families concerned, although no compensation is enough for the loss of lives. In the case Jihad's father filed, the High Court ordered the accused of paying Tk 3,000,000 to him.

As for the death of Sabbir, some may argue that this too is an accident. But a rational approach to this problem would make a strong case against any such open sewerage system existent in residential areas. Indeed, the open sewerage running through Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Peererbagh and Mirpur poses to be a death trap for unaccompanied small children. Unaccustomed to such ditches right in the middle of the city, children can slip into it anytime. They can fall when they try to retrieve their tennis balls with which they play cricket or football. If they do not know how to swim, more such tragedies can occur there.

The other objection to such open sewerages is the environmental pollution they cause. Nasty and putrid smell fouls the environment all around. This can in no way be accommodated in a capital city like Dhaka.

Storm sewerage is an answer to this problem. The WASA has constructed quite a few of those such as the one near Free School Street running up to the Hatirjheel Lake. Another one is at Mohammadpur running between the Mohammadpur Bus Stand and the Shiite Mosque. Money should not be a problem in today's context. When footpaths in reasonably good conditions in many areas are dug out only to change the design with different types of bricks or slabs, the required money for laying strong concrete cover all over the open sewerage should be made available in order to make those safe for people, children in particular.  Nauseating odour emanating from them too can be taken care of in the process.