DND canal encroachment rampant

Aleya Begum, a widow of Giridhara Residential Area of Fatullah in Narayanganj, is struggling with her eight-member family for the last five months as their home is under ankle- to knee-deep water since the beginning of rainy season.

Aleya purchased the house around 20 years back, but did not face this kind of problem initially as the house was higher than the internal roads and lands of the area.

But since the raising of the internal roads, they have fallen under huge predicaments, which also intensified due to the illegal fish farming at the lowland adjoining their home.

“Since the blocking of the low land for fish cultivating beside our house started around one decade back, we are living with water during the rainy seasons,” said Aleya.

They face the problem for failing to raise their house due to a financial crisis, as they run their family by renting out rooms and from the income of her eldest son, she said.

Not only Aleya Begum but also thousands of residents of the DND (Dhaka-Narayanganj-Demra) area face this waterlogging problem during the entire rainy season.

Encroachment of canals, mindless dumping of solid waste into the canals of the area is contributing to the continual waterlogging. Indiscriminate fish farming in the lowlands of the areas also worsen the situation.

The DND project is another example where the project area has been sealed off from the two rivers -- Buriganga and Shitalakkhya.

The canal mouths under the DND were blocked and a pumping station at Shimrail with four pumps, each having a capacity of 3.63 cubic metres per second (cumec), was set up in the 1960s.

About 20 lakh residents of the area have to live with the risk of waterlogging as the canals of the DND areas are facing encroachments.

There are 93.98km canals in the DND areas but most of the time it remains blocked at different points due to incessant garbage dumping and encroachments.

As the canals are also being blocked due to an embankment, it has to depend on pumps to get the water out, but the capacity of the pumping station is not sufficient, which is another major reason for waterlogging there, said experts.

Every year, thousands of residents of the DND areas face severe waterlogging problem due to the cordoned off project and lack of proper pumping stations and active canals, and most importantly failure of authorities concerned to take long-term measures to improve the situation, experts said.

Around 15 petrol pumps and filling stations have been given permits to set up along the road from Jatrabari to Signboard during the last BNP-led four-party alliance government.

The canal adjoining Dhaka-Chittagong highway is being illegally occupied at different points to set up these stations.

“The canal, which was over 100 feet wide has been narrowed down at points to only 10 feet or less due to encroachments,” said Monirul Islam, a resident of Paradaga.

Chunnu Sardar, a resident of Shanir Akhra, said, “The canal was dug in 1988 during construction of the highway and was linked to the Shitalakkhya through Simrail pump station.” The canal is under serious threats of encroachment as most of the places were filled up or the constructed structures were setting up small pipes for water to pass, he added.

The canal met at Signboard with the Pagla canal, starting from Shyampur, which falls to Shimrail pumping station, he said.

Bachchu Miah, a 70-year-old man, said the Pagla canal, which is around 20 to 30 feet now, was three to four times wider even 15 years back in the Signboard area, which is being reduced due to mindless encroachment.

The canal also became wider during the rainy season as a vast area was wetland, he said.

Since making the roads of the area higher without keeping a proper provision for water to flow to the canal, the waterlogging problem intensified, said Mohammad Saddam Hossain, a resident of Giridhara Residential Area.

He said the internal canals of the areas and wetlands which used to carry rain water to the pump station are blocked due to the unplanned internal roads.

Ainun Nishat, professor emeritus of Brac University, and a water resources and climate change specialist, said the city corporations itself constructed many roads on the canals and the DND areas were the best example.

The pump, set up at Shimrail, is not functioning properly as the canals, which used to carry rain water to the pumping station failed to carry it due to encroachment and blocks at different points.

Though a pump is there but water does not reach the pump properly, he said and suggested setting up four pumping stations for the DND areas to solve its waterlogging problem.

Also, keeping water retention pond in front of a pumping station is a must, he added.

The DND area is situated between the Buriganga and Sitalakhya rivers and in the floodplain of the Meghna river. The Buriganga covers both the south and a part of the west side and the Sitalakhya is on the east.

At the beginning of the DND Project (1962-68) the area was primarily rural and the land was mainly agricultural excluding the existing canals and homesteads. Now it has changed from an agro-rural to agro-urban area.

The urbanisation process is randomly progressing without any planning and the areas devoted to agriculture and water bodies are continuously being engulfed by it. Demra, Shyampur, Kutubpur, Matuail, Siddirganj, Godnail, Madaninagar, Bhuigar, Pagla, Fatullah and many other DND areas are being urbanised at a very fast pace.

In 1962, the DND project consisted of over 80 percent of agricultural land, and as on 2008 the agricultural land is less than 25 percent. In a separate study, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) projected that by 2032 there will be 94 percent of urban related areas while other minor parts will be water bodies or just open space.

Chief Engineer of Dhaka Water Development Board (Central Zone) Abul Kalam Azad said Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) on August 8 approved a Tk 558.2 crore project titled, “Development of Drainage System (2nd phase) of DND Areas” to effectively address the vexing waterlogging problem of the areas.

The components of the project include excavating 93.98km canals, constructing 13.5km walkways, setting up two pumping stations at Shimrail (seven pumps having 5.5 cumec capacity) and Adamji Nagar (6 pumps having capacity of 5.5 cumec each), setting up three pumping plants at Pagla (having capacity of .28 cumec each), Shyampur (having capacity of .14 cumec each) and Fatullah (12 pumps having capacity of .28 cumec each), he said.

Currently there is a pumping station (four-pump) with 3.63 cumec capacity each at Shimrail.