Dhaka, as some social media enthusiasts have been pointing out with glee, is no more a city but a river. There are some who have been speaking of holidaying on the banks of a River Dhaka. Some others have noted human habitations sprouting out of the water in what is a new sea named Dhaka. If there was ever a movie called 'Titas Ekti Nodir Naam', says a contributor to Facebook, the Titas is now dead. And what we now have is a theme for a new movie called 'Dhaka Ekti Nodir Naam'.
All these comments, made in jest or seriousness, are reflections on the state of decline into which the nation's capital has slipped. Indeed, the idea can be stretched a little more, to suggest that Dhaka is now a sinking city. No, it is not threatened by anything like the Karnaphuli dam. Nor is the sea coming towards it to gulp it down in one gigantic movement. It is simply the fact that every time it rains, the capital gets lost in the downpour. It is a condition that has quite become the norm. However, in these last four days, the incessant rains simply made Dhaka disappear under billowing waters, with the roads not being visible at all.
Vehicles, from cars to buses and trucks and three-wheelers, went out of order as the water entered the engines. Rickshaw pullers, unable to do much, lost in terms of earnings since there was really nowhere for them to go. Children and adults, compelled to leave home every morning on different normal pursuits, found themselves stranded, often without any means of tiding over the situation. Businesses suffered and hospitals were hamstrung in the provision of services to patients.
Much has been said and written on the decline of Dhaka with regard to its drainage system, or an absence of it. The media as well as broad masses of citizens have been clamoring for years for the city to be given back the old system of drains that once used to carry off rainwater, leaving normal life untouched. It is not that rainfalls are a new phenomenon for the city, since such weather patterns have more or less been a regular feature of its climatic history.
The difference between the past and now is that in the old days urban planning happened to be serious business, with citizens getting the assurance and the reality that Dhaka would be a comfortable place of abode for all. Now, with the city rapidly turning into an ugly urban slum, with high-rises completely ignoring the need for a proper and efficient drainage system, even a slight spell of rain leaves people in dire conditions.
Could the authorities not call forth the wisdom to bring together leading urban experts and have them discuss the ways and means by which the Dhaka --- of cleanliness, of good drainage, of good foliage --- we once knew can be restored?
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