“Did you know that this twin carriageway, where we are standing, was as soon as a canal two a protracted time within the past?” asked Abdus Sattar, a particular person in his gradual 70s, pointing to Panthapath Avenue.
“I outmoded to fish and bathe here. Water from Hatirjheel flowed by this Panthapath Canal, passing by Dhanmondi Lake to the Buriganga River,” the aged man acknowledged.
Expressing his frustration, Sattar acknowledged, “A box culvert was as soon as built over the canal to build this twin carriageway. If the canal had been calm flowing, we would comprise boats on it. I in actuality comprise travelled to many international locations in Europe and The United States and comprise never viewed nature destroyed cherish this to effect roads and buildings. It only occurs in Bangladesh.”
He added, “The canal’s possession modifications every few years with diversified initiatives, however it never returns. If this continues, we can want binoculars to bag a canal in Dhaka.”
At Mirpur, Sanowar Hossain, a resident of West Kafrul Ananda Bazar Avenue, acknowledged, “The Kalyanpur Canal outmoded to float by Kazirpara to Mirpur 2. Now it is a drain. Dhaka Wasa has made it smaller with concrete embankments. The water float will get choked with garbage in iciness.”
He confirmed photographs of flooded streets on his phone. “Even 2-3 hours of rain cause waist-deep water. Garbage from the canal reaches our homes. The metropolis corporation has no longer cleaned it, and the constructed drain overflows, inflicting floods.”
Most Dhaka residents share Sattar and Sanowar’s snort about the metropolis’s canals. They demand if it is even doable to build them.
Over time, possession of Dhaka’s canals has shifted continuously amongst the district administration, metropolis companies, and Dhaka Wasa.
In response to the district administration, there are 50 canals in Dhaka, while the 2 metropolis companies jabber there are 46.
Currently, Dhaka North and Dhaka South metropolis companies arrange 26 canals, while others remain below the Ministry of Housing and Public Works and the Bangladesh Water Vogue Board.
Dhaka loses 120km of canals in 83 years
A River and Delta Analysis Centre (RDRC) look presentations that Dhaka metropolis has lost 120 km (307 hectares) of canals between 1940 and 2023.
Unplanned urbanisation and neglect ended in the loss or distinguished reduction of 95 canals. Ultimate 11 canals and 4 lakes had been newly excavated.
RDRC when in contrast cadastral surveys from 1888-1940 with 2022 satellite photos and identified 77 predominant canals and lakes in Dhaka.
These waterbodies covered 565 hectares, with about 55% now lost. Of the 307 hectares lost, 33.75% is occupied by buildings, 18.92% by farmland, and 16.94% by streets. The remainder has been crammed or became wetlands. The take a look at out, conducted in lean seasons, excluded foreshore and wetlands.
Begunbari, Ramchandrapur, Dholai, and Rampura canals comprise each and every lost over 3 km in length, while the Buriganga’s outmoded channel lost 2.46 km and 18.63 hectares.
RDRC Chairman Mohammad Azaz worthy that illegal occupation and air pollution of rivers, canals, and diversified waterbodies comprise negatively impacted Dhaka’s environment.
“Dhaka faces a predominant lack of waterbodies on account of rapid urbanisation. Water and air air pollution, waterlogging, groundwater depletion, and diversified crises comprise affected the metropolis,” he acknowledged.
He questioned the responsible authorities’ efforts and advised the metropolis companies to act impulsively to restore the water float within the canals. He wired the necessity for authorities initiatives and holistic responses to withhold the remainder rivers, channels, lakes, and canals.
15 canals lost to urbanisation
Urbanisation has claimed at least 15 of Dhaka’s canals, now changed by box culverts and roads. Authorities suppose these modifications had been made on authorities directives, however plans to restore the canals comprise no longer been implemented.
One such waterway was as soon as the Panthapath Canal, which related Dhanmondi Lake to Hatirjheel Lake. Now buried below Panthapath Avenue, it as soon as drained rainwater into Begunbari Canal.
Another waterbody, Paribagh Canal, which flowed from Shahbagh by Mogbazar, has now been changed by Sonargaon Avenue.
The Arambagh and Gopibagh canals, as soon as key waterways, comprise moreover been crammed in. Equally, the Rajabazar and Nandipara-Trimohini canals had been changed by box culverts.
A critically prolonged canal, originating from Matsya Bhaban and traversing by quite a bit of neatly-known areas, has moreover been remodeled unswerving into a twin carriageway. The Kajlar Par Canal, as soon as a major water route for locals, is now the Kajla-Kutubkhali Avenue.
The Dholaikhal and Dayaganj canals had been crammed in, contributing to waterlogging issues within the Dholaikhal-Dayaganj-Mirhajhirbag space. Even the Kathalbagan and Dhalpur canals comprise met a same destiny, with their spaces now occupied by land and infrastructure.
Many diversified canals comprise met same fates, including the Rayerbazar, Segunbagicha, Gobindpur, Kathalbagan, and Narinda canals.
Dhaka Wasa cited authorities instructions for changing canals into roads.
“We constructed box culverts over canals within the Nineties by authorities choices. Roads had been wanted on the time,” acknowledged AKM Shahid Uddin of Dhaka Wasa.
Recent snort of existing canals
The Rupnagar Canal, as soon as 2.43 km prolonged and over 18 metres broad, is now a narrow drain. Encroachment by buildings and fracture dumps has diminished its width to no longer as much as 2-3 metres in some areas.
Abdul Waset, a resident, expressed his fright on the canal’s deterioration, noting that Dhaka North does no longer stunning it on a usual foundation.
In Jatrabari, half of of the Baishteki Canal has been turned unswerving into a twin carriageway, leaving the remainder allotment as a narrow, polluted drain.
The Kalyanpur Canal network, which contains six smaller canals, has been equally encroached upon, despite legit records indicating widths ranging from 8 to 40 metres.
The Hazaribagh Canal, as soon as 3 km prolonged, is now a fracture heap. Miniature buildings line its banks, and there’s not this form of thing as a water float shut to the Hazaribagh sluice gate.
Asma Begum, a local resident, worthy the intense fracture snort and the dearth of ethical cleansing.
Equally, the Jirani Canal, supposedly 5.5 km prolonged and 20-30 metres broad, has been diminished to as narrow as 3-5 metres on account of encroachment.
The Ramchandrapur Canal, as soon as 3.1 km prolonged, has been crammed in at quite a bit of parts, while the Digun Canal in Mirpur has virtually entirely disappeared.
Despite managing 26 canals for nearly four years, neither metropolis corporation has restored usual water float in any of them. Dhaka North spent Tk330 crore over four years, and Dhaka South invested Tk220 crore, however growth has been slack.
Dhaka South for the time being has a Tk900 crore challenge to revive four canals, including the construction of reinforced embankments. On the different hand, this challenge, scheduled to launch in September 2021 and enact by December 2024, is but to be implemented.
City companies cite intensive encroachment and dinky sources as predominant challenges to reviving Dhaka’s canals.
Whereas they acknowledge that the restoration will take time, metropolis experts and environmentalists stress that moral implementation of existing policies is serious to addressing the crisis.
