Waterlogging - how long must we suffer?

Once again, a brief spell of rain has thrown Dhaka into chaos. On Monday morning, roads from Nilkhet to Azimpur, including areas in front of Bangamata and Kuwait Friendship Halls at Dhaka University, were knee-deep in water. The university's student hall bus service had to be suspended, leaving many students unable to attend classes. Others waded through flooded streets, while office-goers struggled with paralysing traffic jams and wasted hours trapped on submerged roads.

This picture is nothing new. For over a decade, residents of Old Dhaka and beyond have endured the same ordeal every monsoon season. The causes are well known: clogged and unmaintained drains, illegal encroachments, unplanned urbanisation, and a chronically ineffective drainage system. Even a light shower now brings parts of the capital to a standstill. If such conditions persist in front of one of the country's leading educational institutions, it is easy to imagine the plight of ordinary neighbourhoods and alleyways.

The consequences extend far beyond daily inconvenience. Students missing classes face long-term academic setbacks, while office workers arriving late or absent from work reduce overall productivity. The economic and educational costs of such waterlogging are far from trivial.

Dhaka's citizens dutifully pay taxes and service charges, yet even the most basic civic expectation-a usable road after rain-remains unmet. It is high time the authorities treated drainage reform as a priority. Otherwise, city dwellers are left to wonder: how many more days like this must we endure?

Ashikujaman Syed

syedashikujaman@yahoo.com