Bracing for an environmental disaster
Thursday, 15 November 2007
ASM Oliullah
PARIMOL Chandra, a businessman who grew up in the old part of Dhaka city, saw how the rows of welding workshops came up on what once was Dholaikhal. The ceaseless sparks and a constant noise, out of the welding works, make the residents and the passers-by equally uncomfortable.
''Dholaikhal was not the road we see today. It was a canal only years ago," recalls Parimol. The filled up canal gave way to the road, now hosting the noisy factories, welding shops or repair workshops for vehicles.
''The new generation may dismiss me as a mad man if I tell them that once there was a canal in its place," he says with a sigh. The Dholaikhal or Dholai canal, was not the lone casualty of unplanned urbanisation. Over the years 35 other canals disappeared from the face of the capital city. The canals disappeared due to a haphazard urban development as well as encroachment by land grabbers. The grabbers also forcibly occupied many open spaces meant for parks.
A government-appointed committee so far failed to locate where the lost canals existed not too long ago. A master plan for Dhaka city, made in 1960 for further development of the metropolis, had left the 35 canals untouched. Nearly 300 acres of land was earmarked for the development as parks. The canals, including the Dholaikhal, were to be developed to provide for drainage and waterways for entertainment.
That master plan was distorted beyond recognition at different phases of its implementation. Areas with trees were cleared for the construction of multistoried buildings. Senior residents still speak of the trees that shaded Dhupkhola and Gandaria and other areas. The canals disappeared from Segunbagicha, Shahjahanpur and Purana Paltan.
A new master plan had to be prepared in 1997. Now it awaits final touches.
After encroachment, only narrow roads could be built on the remaining land. Besides multistoried buildings, rows of shabby shops or air-polluting welding workshops also came up on the encroached canal lands.
A survey on the lost canals of the city was ordered in August last year. A five-member committee, headed by Deputy Commissioner of Dhaka Abdul Bari, identified the areas where the canals once existed. The committee is yet to complete the survey.
Says Prof. Nazrul Islam, Director at the Centre for Urban Studies in Dhaka University: "The 35 canals had worked like the arteries of the city. These canals have disappeared due to neglect and unplanned urbanisation over the past 50 years. The canals that still exist are almost dying. They are being filled with garbage."
Miah Abdullah Mahmud, an urban planner at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, says: "The canals had been buried under houses, shops and markets. This has also disturbed the ecological balance of the city. So Dhaka city braces for an environmental disaster."
Rajdhani Unnayan Katripakkha or RAJUK listed 20 lost canals as follows: Segunbagicha, Basabo, Begunbari, Mahakhali, Katasur, Ibrahimpur, Digun, Ramchandrapur, Baunia, Abdullhahpur, Diabari, Kallyan, Dholaikhal and Jiranikhal.
Due to unplanned development or land grabbing by the influential the city lost its open spaces for development of parks. The Estate Department of Dhaka City Corporation recently identified 47 such parks, 20 of them non-existent.
Says Jamilur Reza Chowdhury, vice-chancellor of BRAC University and an environmental activist: "The filling of canals, lakes and waterways has endangered the environment of Dhaka city, causing water logging after a little bit of rains." An environmental disaster would be unavoidable, he warns, unless the wrongs are corrected.
Pollution is making the water of the rivers Buriganga, Sitalakkha and Balu, around Dhaka unusable. The groundwater table is also falling rapidly.
According to Dhaka WASA, Dhaka's groundwater table has been falling by two feet every year. That means the city's groundwater could dry up by 2025.
Rainwater does not sip into the ground the way it used to before the canals and lakes were filled up. WASA draws 90 per cent of its water supply from the ground using deep wells creating pressure on groundwater.
Prof. Muzaffar Ahmed, President of Bangladesh Poribesh Andolan, calls for restoration of the lost canals to prevent an environmental calamity in the city and to keep it fit for inhabitation.
........................................
(Courtesy: NewsNetwork)
PARIMOL Chandra, a businessman who grew up in the old part of Dhaka city, saw how the rows of welding workshops came up on what once was Dholaikhal. The ceaseless sparks and a constant noise, out of the welding works, make the residents and the passers-by equally uncomfortable.
''Dholaikhal was not the road we see today. It was a canal only years ago," recalls Parimol. The filled up canal gave way to the road, now hosting the noisy factories, welding shops or repair workshops for vehicles.
''The new generation may dismiss me as a mad man if I tell them that once there was a canal in its place," he says with a sigh. The Dholaikhal or Dholai canal, was not the lone casualty of unplanned urbanisation. Over the years 35 other canals disappeared from the face of the capital city. The canals disappeared due to a haphazard urban development as well as encroachment by land grabbers. The grabbers also forcibly occupied many open spaces meant for parks.
A government-appointed committee so far failed to locate where the lost canals existed not too long ago. A master plan for Dhaka city, made in 1960 for further development of the metropolis, had left the 35 canals untouched. Nearly 300 acres of land was earmarked for the development as parks. The canals, including the Dholaikhal, were to be developed to provide for drainage and waterways for entertainment.
That master plan was distorted beyond recognition at different phases of its implementation. Areas with trees were cleared for the construction of multistoried buildings. Senior residents still speak of the trees that shaded Dhupkhola and Gandaria and other areas. The canals disappeared from Segunbagicha, Shahjahanpur and Purana Paltan.
A new master plan had to be prepared in 1997. Now it awaits final touches.
After encroachment, only narrow roads could be built on the remaining land. Besides multistoried buildings, rows of shabby shops or air-polluting welding workshops also came up on the encroached canal lands.
A survey on the lost canals of the city was ordered in August last year. A five-member committee, headed by Deputy Commissioner of Dhaka Abdul Bari, identified the areas where the canals once existed. The committee is yet to complete the survey.
Says Prof. Nazrul Islam, Director at the Centre for Urban Studies in Dhaka University: "The 35 canals had worked like the arteries of the city. These canals have disappeared due to neglect and unplanned urbanisation over the past 50 years. The canals that still exist are almost dying. They are being filled with garbage."
Miah Abdullah Mahmud, an urban planner at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, says: "The canals had been buried under houses, shops and markets. This has also disturbed the ecological balance of the city. So Dhaka city braces for an environmental disaster."
Rajdhani Unnayan Katripakkha or RAJUK listed 20 lost canals as follows: Segunbagicha, Basabo, Begunbari, Mahakhali, Katasur, Ibrahimpur, Digun, Ramchandrapur, Baunia, Abdullhahpur, Diabari, Kallyan, Dholaikhal and Jiranikhal.
Due to unplanned development or land grabbing by the influential the city lost its open spaces for development of parks. The Estate Department of Dhaka City Corporation recently identified 47 such parks, 20 of them non-existent.
Says Jamilur Reza Chowdhury, vice-chancellor of BRAC University and an environmental activist: "The filling of canals, lakes and waterways has endangered the environment of Dhaka city, causing water logging after a little bit of rains." An environmental disaster would be unavoidable, he warns, unless the wrongs are corrected.
Pollution is making the water of the rivers Buriganga, Sitalakkha and Balu, around Dhaka unusable. The groundwater table is also falling rapidly.
According to Dhaka WASA, Dhaka's groundwater table has been falling by two feet every year. That means the city's groundwater could dry up by 2025.
Rainwater does not sip into the ground the way it used to before the canals and lakes were filled up. WASA draws 90 per cent of its water supply from the ground using deep wells creating pressure on groundwater.
Prof. Muzaffar Ahmed, President of Bangladesh Poribesh Andolan, calls for restoration of the lost canals to prevent an environmental calamity in the city and to keep it fit for inhabitation.
........................................
(Courtesy: NewsNetwork)