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Reclaiming grabbed canals key to city drainage system: Expert  

Dhaka dwellers desperately want an end to water-logging

Published : Sunday, 14 July, 2024 at 12:00 AM  Count : 308
Muhammad Yeasin
Although there is a High Court order to recover 50 canals occupied by influential grabbers, but the authorities concerned of both the Dhaka City Corporations could not be able to recover these canals.

Authorities must take effective measures to protect and restore the city canals. As a result of recent heavy monsoon rains the city has experienced the worst water logging, which may create serious sufferings to the city dwellers in the coming days, experts opined. 
  
According to report released in 2010 by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Ministry of Environment and Forests stated that 50 canals in Dhaka had greatly diminished or disappeared due to: unauthorized land filling, encroachments, illegal construction, expansion of slums, solid waste dumping and the lack of maintenance of box culverts.

In 2015, the World Bank released a report that predicted the damage from water logging in the city of Dhaka, between 2014 and 2050, could reach Tk 11,000 crore. When taking into account the increase in heavy rains, as a result of climate change, the estimated damage in Dhaka could exceed Tk 13,900 crore.

Besides, in an order, the High Court had on December 4 in 2017 directed the government to prepare an action plan with a list of land grabbers for recovering 50 canals in both the Dhaka city corporation areas by July 1, 2018.  

In response to a writ petition, the then HC bench comprising Justice Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury and Justice JBM Hassan directed the authorities to prepare a report on the status and location of the canals, including the ones in Segunbagicha, Katasur, Kalyanpur and Khilgaon.

Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) filed the writ petition as a public interest litigation seeking necessary directives of the court to protect the canals.

Of the 50 canals, 24 are in Dhaka South City Corporation area and the rest are in Dhaka North City Corporation area, said Sayeed Ahmed Kabir, a lawyer for BELA.

It has been over six years since the High Court ordered the two city corporations to manage the canals and drainage systems, but they are yet to reclaim the water bodies from grabbers by demarcating the boundaries and restore their original states. 

Even the Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (WASA) had on December 31 in 2020 handed over the responsibility of the drainage systems of 26 canals and 385 kilometres of main drain lines to the city corporations. And DNCC got 21 canals and DSCC five, but no major development of the water bodies is visible yet.

City dwellers and experts said the work the two city corporations have done so far in this regard is not enough. Besides, if the canals cannot be re-excavated and waste removed to make way for rainwater, the capitals water-logging problems may aggravate during the current monsoon.

They underscored the need for demarcating the existing canals quickly, removing illegal structures and silt from them, and their re-excavation and regular monitoring.

The root cause lies in the inadequate coordination between the two city corporations and other government agencies responsible for maintaining the drainage system in Dhaka.

Advocate Sayeed Ahmed Kabir, who moved before the High Court on behalf of the petitioner, said in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, had 58 canals flowing through the city, fed by surrounding rivers and lakes. 

A recorded 50 of these canals worked as the citys drainage system. The majority of these canals have been occupied by grabbers while 26 listed of the canals to be in an environmentally critical condition. Now, the authorities concerned should recover the canals from grabbers immediately to save the city from destruction, he added. 

Prof Adil Muhammad Khan from Jahangirnagar University Department of Urban and Regional Planning said the root cause lies in the inadequate coordination between the two city corporations and other government agencies responsible for recovering the canals from grabbers and maintaining the drainage system in Dhaka.

He also said, "The demolition of the buildings and restoration of the canals are very urgent for saving the city dwellers from water logging. However, dismantling the huge number of structures is a challenge for the city authorities. But they must do it considering the greater interest of the city dwellers," he added.



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