Ctg traders continue to suffer
Waterlogging continued hurting businesses at Khatunganj and Chaktai in the port city yesterday, as tidal wave entered hundreds of shops, godowns and offices in the areas for the third consecutive day.
Water from Chaktai canal overflowed yesterday again and submerged the wholesale hubs at 2:30am for the first time and at 12:30pm again, local traders said.
Almost all of the 1,200 shops, godowns and offices in Khatunganj and 2,500 such establishments located on the ground floor bore the brunt of the rush of water.
Syed Sagir Ahmad, general secretary of Khatunganj Trade and Industries Association, said the loss in the last three days could reach Tk 300 crore.
The staff along with labourers were seen bailing water out of the stores while some were busy in raising the height of the already erected walls at the entrance of the shops.
The traders are also suffering from a crisis of labourers and repairmen, who are now charging almost double their regular payments for a day, said Md Maksud, manager of Bagdadi Corporation.
The repairmen were asking up to Tk 3,000, up from Tk 1,000, to build walls at the entrance of the shops.
At least 800 sacks of onion, 400 sacks of garlic and 300 sacks of ginger stored in the firm's entrepots and two godowns were damaged, which could worth nearly Tk 20 lakh, he said.
“The continuous rain does not let us dry up our goods to make them saleable at least at cheaper rates again.”
Bagdadi Corporation sold some of the wet onions at Tk 5 a kg only, down from Tk 18 a kg, to recover to some extent from the loss, he said.
Monir Hossain, proprietor of Dhaka Traders, could not save his shop from the water despite erecting walls at the entrance. Water entered his business from the back and other sides.
The tidal wave inundated about 80 percent of the 800 rice entrepots and godowns in Chaktai.
Waters drenched at least 600 sacks of rice, which were kept on the bottom of the racks of a shop—Bodiur Rahman Sowdagar—in Chaktai.
Sekandar Hossain Badsha, proprietor of the shop, said he primarily counted a loss of Tk 12 lakh.
Some traders tried to save goods by storing them on hired trucks or by shifting those to the makeshift godowns on the first floors of some buildings where the workers of the shops used to live.
Omar Azam, general secretary of Chittagong Rice Traders Association, said he failed to find any alternative space to relocate his stored rice and had to watch those get damaged.
The situation worsened on Monday when almost 15-foot high tides hit the areas and different gates of the dam at Kaptai Hydro Electric Power plant were opened due to heavy rains in India. Azam said the traders could have saved a big portion of their goods, if the government or the administration had earlier informed them before opening the gates of the dam.
“We are now only depending on Mother Nature and hoping that the weather will get better soon,” he said in a helpless voice.
Syed Sagir Ahmad urged the government to take immediate measures like dredging up the city canals, including Chaktai, and installation of sluice gates at the entrance of the canals, to avoid such waterlogging in future.
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