Jt drive soon to free three grabbed canals in city

Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (WASA) and Dhaka District administration will jointly launch an eviction drive again to recover three grabbed city canals soon, reports UNB. The drive will be conducted to remove all illegal structures from 'Kalyanpur Kha' canal, 'Kalyanpur Gha' canal and Rupnagar canal. The banks of the three canals will be protected by placing rock blocks after demolishing unauthorised structures, WASA sources said. On October 18 last year, the authorities began drives to recover the capital's grabbed canals following the decision taken by a joint taskforce meeting of the ministries of Shipping and Local Government and Rural Development (LGRD). According to the Cadastral Survey (CS) records, Dhaka had 43 natural canals, and 26 of them were handed over to WASA for operation and maintenance to serve its sewerage purposes. Those canals were used to drain out waters to remove water logging and environmental pollution. The 26 canals are Kalyanpur main canal, Kalyanpur Ka, Kha, Gha, Uma and Cha canals, Katasur, Ramchandrapur, Abdullahpur, Begunbari, Digun, Gulshan-Banani, Mahakhali, Hazaribagh, Khilgaon-Basabo, Manda, Sutibhola, Shahjadpur, Rupnagar, Baishteki, Sangbadik Colony, Bouniya, Ibrahimpur canals, Housing canal in Mirpur-14, Koshaibari, Segunbagicha and Jirani canal. Since the grabbing of waterways and canals started by some influential quarters, the capital has been facing ecological hazards. Some government organisations including Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) also built roads, box-culverts and other structures over a number of those canals. Presently, there is no existence of Rayer Bazar canal as the district administration gave allotments to different individuals and institutions from time to time. On the other hand, four kilometres out of 9.0 kilometres of Baunia canal has already been filled up by RAJUK as part of Uttara Phase-3 projects. WASA has already sent letter to RAJUK to take measures to recover filled up part of the canal, said a WASA officer who asked not to be quoted. The official said Sangbadik Colony canal, Hazaribagh canal and Baishteki canal could not be recovered due to land requisition related problems. A major part of Rupnagar Canal has been grabbed by a leading housing company, he said. WASA has already started protecting banks of Khilgaon-Basabo canal, Sutikhola canal, Abdullahpur canal and Shahjadpur canal by placing rock blocks after demolishing unauthorised structures. Drawing and designs of several canals, including Segunbagicha canal, Mohakhali canal, Manda canal, Kalyanpur Prodhan canal and Digun canal have almost been completed. On September 29 last year, the shipping and water resources ministries at a joint meeting formed the taskforce and took a decision to recover 13 canals across the capital and preserve those in their original positions.