Residents speak volumes about WASA wrongs

Dhaka's Mirpur residents made many complaints, like ongoing disruption to water supply, arbitrary meter-reading and neglect of duty by WASA staffs, as the Anti-Corruption Commission held a public hearing Wednesday.
They also accused some Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (DWASA) men of taking bribe for providing illegal water-supply connections and misbehaving with many clients while seeking solution to various problems.
The complaints came at the public hearing organised by the ACC to learn citizens' grievances against the service of DWASA at MODS zones 4 and 10 under Mirpur area, as part of the ACC's anti-graft campaigns.
ACC Commissioner Nasiruddin Ahmed and one of its directors, Moniruzzaman and Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of DWASA Taqsem A Khan, among others, attended the programme, held the BIBM auditorium.
Dhaka Division director of the ACC Nasim Anwar moderated the public hearing, where more than 25 individuals came up with their complaints about the public utility service.
A resident of Baunia, Md Mosharraf, said a WASA staff member took his billing documents to halve the charged amount from Tk 20,000 to Tk 10,000 nearly a year ago. "Since then, I have been in a fix as I cannot make any contact with him."
Shahidul Islam of Mirpur-10 said water supply to his residence was seriously interrupted.
"We receive water supply for a very short period during night. As a result, our day-to-day life is hampered," he told the hearing session of the anti-graft watchdog.
However, when he contacted the respective office, he was not well- behaved with.
"One official told me that I should be happy as I get some water while many others don't get at all," he said.
Borobag area's Jahangir Alam complained that his neighborhoods don't get water supply regularly.
"Even the little amount of water we receive is smelly and dirty," he said, adding that a lack of coordination among the city's utility-service-providers, including City Corporation, is responsible for the situation.
He also complained that some service recipients obtained illegal connections from the legal water-supply pipeline by managing WASA men.
"As a result, legal clients are being deprived of the service," he said.
Meanwhile, some of the clients also praised the WASA for its various initiatives including effort to provide safe water to slum-dwellers and floating people.
Officials concerned of MODS zones 4 and 10 were present at the public hearing. They replied to the allegations and assured the complainants of solving the issues as soon as possible.
Addressing the gathering at the concluding session, Taqsem A Khan said DWASA has adopted several modern technologies to ensure its service quality across the city.
The state-owned utility-service provider installed modern water-distribution system known as district metered area (DMA) to ensure uninterrupted water supply, he said, adding that the system is yet to be launched in Mirpur area.
"We are hopeful that most of the crises will be resolved as soon as DMA is launched in Mirpur area," the MD said.
He also said the finalization of project to bring water from Savar's Vakurta underground water reservoir to Mirpur will help solve many issues.
The WASA chief cited the organisation's success since 2009.
He said the WASA is en route to becoming a hundred-per cent automated organisation.
"Whenever we become fully automated, there will be zero scope for irregularities in WASA," he said, adding that the agency is still on right path as it has become 70 per cent automated so far.
In his speech, Mr Nasiruddin requested the service-takers to contact the officials directly instead of contacting linemen or meter-reader.
The ACC official said the WASA ought to solve all the issues to restore public faith in it.
He also announced May 2 as date for a follow-up public-hearing assembly.

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