A glorified garbage dump
If one visits KB Aman Road's Phooltola area in the port city, they may come across a garbage dump full of polythene bags. However, this very "dump" is in fact part of the Chaktai canal.
Polythene waste covers roughly a kilometre of the canal, from Phooltola to Bakalia Bogarbil area, or in simpler terms, as far as the eye can see. This did not happen overnight. Locals allege that due to lack of monitoring and infrequent maintenance, a major part of the canal has been filled with garbage.
Consequently, locals have been facing various issues, including mosquito menace, malodour and waterlogging during monsoon.
"Water flow has been hindered, as all the polythene has blocked the canal…," said Arifur Rahman, a resident of the area. "We can't stay at home peacefully after evening because of mosquitoes. The canal has become their breeding ground."
Cheman Ara Begum, another resident, said people living on both sides of the canal are also suffering from malodour coming from the polythene bags full of filthy waste.
Asked who dumps polythene there, she said some irresponsible and inconsiderate residents do it in absence of proper monitoring by the authorities concerned. "I hold Chattogram City Corporation (CCC) officials responsible for the negligence," she said.
Rahul Dutta, another resident, said they must deal with waterlogging during monsoon, as the canal cannot drain rainwater.
"We've heard that Chattogram Development Authority (CDA) has taken a mega project to reduce waterlogging in port city," he said. "Why are they not cleaning up the canal?"
Although CDA has initiated the mega project, Bangladesh Army is implementing the project of re-excavation, expansion and cleaning canals and drains to address waterlogging in Chattogram city.
Contacted, Lt Col Shah Ali, director of the implementation project, said, "We cleaned canals last year, but the one at Phooltola is now full of polythene because locals dump waste there."
"It is CCC's responsibility to monitor and raise awareness among people. It is the authority for canal and drain management in the city," he said.
Meanwhile, they are building retaining wall at four points of Chaktai canal, he added.
The authorities have recently started cleaning the canal after CCC Chief Executive Officer Kazi Mohammad Mozammel Hoque was informed of the issue.
"We clean the canals and drains regularly, but no one informed me about Chaktai canal's state," he said.
Comments