The New Nation - Internet Edition

Staff Reporter

The south-western part of Dhaka city would not be free of water-logging as housing companies have occupied one-third of Hazaribagh canal for their roads.

However, Dhaka Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) has restored one kilometre of the three kilometres long canal recently and is now widening it.

But without restoring, the occupied parts of the Hazaribagh canal, the areas between New Market and Nababganj would not get free of water-logging, said WASA officials.

Zahirul Alam, Chief of the Drainage Wing of WASA said, "One kilometre of the canal has been restored by recent drives but still one kilometre is left. A housing company occupied the portion and constructed a road for the housing estate."

WASA has removed about 150 temporary and permanent structures from the canal through the eviction drives. The recovered part is now being excavated for ensuring smooth water flow in the canal, he said.

The natural canal carries water of New Market, Hazaribagh, Pilkhana, Jigatola and a vast area of Nababganj to the River Buriganga. The road constructed by the developer is hampering the flow of water and making the WASA initiatives ineffective, he said.

Abdul Wahab, a resident of Hazaribagh, said, "WASA evicted about a hundred poor families from the canal but could not evict the rich developers. "It seems that WASA does not have the capability to evict the influential land developers from the canal," he added.

He said the eviction drive has done nothing but making a hundred poor people homeless. "It could not bring any interval from water-logging in the area."

Local residents claimed that two housing companies

constructed the road with the help of the unscrupulous officials of the National Housing Authority and local ward commissioner.

The grabbers are so powerful and influential that no one can defy against them during the construction of the road by filling the Hazaribagh canal, they added.

While visiting the area, this correspondent found that the restored part of the canal is 30-feet wide in some areas and 60-feet in other areas.

According to the WASA Master Plan, the main canals of the city are supposed to be 60-feet wide and the branch canals should be 30-feet. Hazaribagh canal is the only main canal of the south-western part of the city.

Aleya Begum, a slum dweller evicted from the bank of the Hazaribagh canal, said she was not informed of the eviction drive earlier. The sudden eviction made her homeless.

"I was out of home on the day of eviction and got the information from my son that our house was being demolished. I rushed there and could only save some household materials. We had to pass one night and one day under open sky," she said.