Waterlogging for years
Hundreds of residents of Thana Road area in Kalmakanda upazila headquarters in Netrakona are suffering immensely due to severe waterlogging for years.
Suffering of the people, including school and college going students, reaches its peak during the rainy season as the rainwater cannot drain away due to unplanned construction of buildings, locals said.
During rain, the road gets submerged by water that overflows from a pond belonging to the Zila Parisahd as there is no drain through which the water can be pumped out, they added.
“We requested the authorities concerned several times to set up a proper drainage system, but no step has been taken yet,” they said.
Ashrafia Qaumia Madrasa Principal Maulana Osman Gani said there are 175 students at the madrasa and they have to use the road to get to the madrasa. “After even light rainfall, the area becomes flooded,” he added.
“We are the worst sufferers this year as all the passages have been blocked,” he added.
Angur Hossain, a cloth trader at Thana Road, said it takes around a week for the water to recede after heavy rainfall, and business in the area is stopped during that time.
A planned drainage system is the permanent solution to this long-term menace, the trader said.
Raisa Akter, a sixth grader at Kalmakanda Girls' High School, said they cannot use the road after rainfall.
Admitting the sufferings of the local people, Netrakona Zila Parishad Member Idris Ali Talukder said a pump was set up around seven years ago to pump out the rainwater from the pond, but it could not carry the load and is out of order.
“The issue was discussed at a recent meeting of the Zila Parishad to mitigate the sufferings and find a permanent solution. We have started making concrete drains with culverts under a project of the Zila Parishad,” the member said.
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