Major streets in the capital Dhaka became waterlogged on Saturday disrupting traffic and causing sufferings to pedestrians as downpour all day halted life with the meteorological department recording 5 centimetres of rain in the morning alone.
The city's authorities however denied the situation was so chaotic because of the downpour with Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority's managing director and Dhaka City Corporation's chief waste management officer both telling New Age that they were satisfied with the speed at which the water drained from the roads.
The Dhaka Metropolitan Police traffic control room also told New Age that the rains had not created any massive traffic congestion.
Abul Hasnat, a resident of Rampura area, said that after the rain the roads in front of Mouchak market turned waterlogged.
'A number of cars and CNG-run autorickshaws had stopped working in the middle of the road creating traffic congestion,' he added.
Sayma Tajreen, a resident of Uttara, said that there was water all over the roads since Friday night due to rains.
'Two thirds of the streets went under water in Uttara with pedestrians, particularly women and children, facing difficulties in walking down the streets,' she added.
The worst affected were the thousands of slum dwellers and people living in roadside shacks in the capital.
'We could not sleep at night due to rainfall,' said Reshma Begum, 30, who lives along with her daughter and a sister on a pavement at Karwanbazar.
Day labourers were also affected. The workers who came to New Market and Lalbagh Fort intersection in the morning for work, waited the whole day in vain before returning home in the afternoon.
Shopkeepers told New Age that their overall sales had been frustrating because of rain and inclement weather.
Traffic was thinner than usual in the capital with a smaller number of buses plying the roads making it a heyday for rickshaw pullers who charged fares at whim.
Amir Tuhin, who regularly uses rickshaw from Shahbagh intersection to Dhaka Medical College Hospital paying Tk 12-15, said he had to pay Tk 20 on Saturday.
Dhaka WASA managing director Taqsem A Khan told New Age on Saturday that the waterlogging was not so acute.
Dhaka WASA has two permanent pumps for drainage of water at Dolaikhal and Kalyanpur and two temporary pumps at Rampura and Janapath.
He claimed that because of their contingency programme, 'water was removed from the city streets within two or three hours.'
Admitting that there was waterlogging at Fakirapul, Mouchak, Mirpur 10, Moghbazar and Shantinagar, he told New Age that the water was drained in a short period of time.
DCC's chief waste management officer Bipan Kumar Saha also said their special programme to clean and unclog the surface-level drains in the 10 zones of the capital had now been completed.
'Our 271 cleaners are working round the clock cleaning the drains,' he said.
Bipan told New Age that it was only in a few areas in the city like Mouchak, Shantinagar, and Jurain, that there was some waterlogging as the discharge points could not drain such a huge amount of water.
The meteorological department reported that the atmospheric depression causing the rain was now centred over West Bengal and adjoining southwestern part of Bangladesh.
The met office forecast light to moderate rain accompanied by gusty or squally wind over Dhaka and its adjoining areas.
source:NewAge
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