Helemul Alam

With the two city corporations taking charge of canals and drainage system from Wasa around five months back, Dhaka dwellers had high hopes that there will be significant improvement in the waterlogging situation.

Amid allegations of poor quality of tap water in the mega city, Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority has once again increased the price of water by 5 percent for residential and commercial uses.

The primary design of the Shadhinota Stambha (third phase) in Suhrawardy Udyan had no provision for cutting down trees but many were chopped down for walkways that were included in the design later, said architects involved in the project.

Four areas of the capital are at risk of dengue infection due to the presence of Aedes mosquitoes, which are carriers of the disease.

With the introduction of a provision for mandatory rainwater harvesting for buildings across the country, the government on February 11 published a gazette notification, making the revised Bangladesh National Building Code (BNBC) a law.

Around one and a half months ago, Muna Sarkar and Ashiquzzaman Khan, both computer engineers by profession, tied the knot.

Relocation of the hazardous chemical warehouses from old Dhaka is still a far cry since the government failed to accomplish any of the goals set after the devastating fires in the past decade.

Thirty percent of the wards in Dhaka city do not have any playground or park, which particularly harms the mental and physical growth of children as they have no space to play and interact with friends.

Nazmul Hasan’s family had adopted every measure they had heard of to save themselves from mosquitoes. They applied repellents and lit mosquito

Baldha Garden no longer bustles with life, as it used to in the past with a delightful array of exotic plants and trees.

Donning vests that say “DSCC Toll Collector”, they move around Gulistan, Jai Kali Mandir Road (between Thathari Bazar and Wari), Motijheel, Fulbaria, Azimpur and Laxmibazar (near Bahadur Shah Park) in the capital -- signaling commercial vehicles to stop.

Sazzad Hossain was waiting to buy food for his family of four at a restaurant in Mohammadpur’s Zakir Hossain Road. They could not cook anything at home because of a gas crisis.

Thousands of people in different parts of the capital suffered badly after being hit by a severe gas crisis as a Titas connection was damaged in Amin Bazar on the outskirts of the city on Monday night.

Dhaka Wasa has again proposed hiking water prices by five percent for residential and commercial uses from July 1.

The two city corporations of Dhaka have drawn up immediate and long-term plans to solve the perennial waterlogging problem in the capital, but recovering canals from encroachers and making them functional remain key challenges.

When Dhaka South City Corporation inaugurated the renovation work of Osmani Udyan in January 2018 with a promise to complete it by 10 months, it was hailed by residents.

Dhaka city dwellers are suffering due to shortage of pipeline gas for two months and the authorities’ promises to solve the problem so far appear empty.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday expressed displeasure over frequent revisions of projects and directed the authorities to take legal action against those responsible for flawed project designs that ultimately push up costs.

Dhaka North City Corporation has taken an initiative to create an integrated “blue network”, connecting and reviving all the canals in 18 newly added wards to resolve the city’s perennial waterlogging.

The Modhumoti Model Town developers continue operations while the government authorities turn a blind eye -- both failing to comply with the highest court’s verdict on retaining the flood flow zone in Savar where the housing project was built illegally.