Bashabo and the vast surrounding areas are virtually unprotected by any flood flow zones. As the water bodies in this region have been filled up in the past few years the waterlogging situation will further worsen this year, fear the locals.

"Waterlogging is quite a regular experience for us every year. We spend each day of the monsoon to watch the water level rising in the nearby swamps and wait for an eminent flooding," said Tanvir Ahmed, a resident of North Bashabo.

"This year things are supposed to be even worse as a number of swamps in the area have been filled up that could otherwise retain the water. It is surprising that the authorities remain silent when we face immense sufferings every year," he added.

According to local residents, the past governments took several isolated initiatives to tackle waterlogging in the region but no step was taken for its permanent solution.

"During the tenure of the Awami League government, the authorities had planned to construct a box culvert in the adjacent swamp. However, during the BNP government the plan was cancelled and the swamp filled up," said Jahangir Alam, another local.

"Although the swamp was marshy and dirty, it used to act as a retention pond in the locality. The swamp has now been filled up to build a community centre, so I can only fear a severe waterlogging situation this year and onwards," he added.

The driving downpour during the last few days, the first cloudburst of the season, reminded the Bashabo residents about their past sufferings from waterlogging.

"My house is about a foot below the street and we had a hard time blocking the door with wooden planks to keep the water out. But all the efforts went in vain as the street itself was flooded with several feet high water and within an hour there were knee-deep water inside our house," said Selim Khan, a garment factory staff from North Bashabo.

In a bid to tackle waterlogging, Dhaka Water and Sewerage Authority (Wasa) undertook a project to improve the sewerage system of Bashabo earlier last month. But the massive road-digging under the project has made the situation only worse for the locals.

The several miles long street starting from the Buddhist Temple near the Atish Deepankar Road up to the Kadamtala Bridge has been thoroughly dug up and wedged with enormous sewerage tubes constricting commuters' movement.

"They dug up the streets in such a way that rickshaws, even bicycles cannot make their ways across all this mess," said Mahabub Ahmed, a resident from Kadamtala.

An official at the Wasa's drainage circle said the entire drainage system of the region is choked with sand and solid wastes as all the nearby water bodies and flood flow zones have been filled up in the last few years.

"The filling up of the nearby flood flow zones have virtually traumatised the sewerage system of the region," said Jafrul Alam, Wasa superintendent engineer for the region.

"Now we are trying to improve the sewerage system so that we can tackle the waterlogging situation in the monsoon," he added.

According to experts, the western parts of the city are dry as Water Development Board workers pumped out water into the Buriganga and Turag rivers.

The city's western part is protected by embankments but the entire eastern region is deluged by floodwaters in absence of any flood control embankment.

The water resources ministry took up the "Eastern Bypass" project in 1998 to protect the eastern region from flooding, which is yet to get final approval from the authorities.

Once implemented, the Tk 2,476-crore project would encompass the 124 square km area from Tongi Railway Bridge to Kanchpur Bridge. The project would save this vast area from recurring floods and also expand the city. It will protect the city from floodwaters of the Balu river that runs from Tongi Bridge to Demra Road.

The floods affected about five million people in the city of about 13 million. The areas such as Sayedabad, Motijheel, Gulshan, Banani, Baridhara, Paltan, Gopibagh, Madartek, Mugda, Goran, Rampura, Malibagh and Badda could have been saved from the floods if the eastern embankment had been built.