INDISCRIMINATE and uncoordinated road digging in Dhaka by the city authorities and other agencies, often dragged into the monsoon season, cause sufferings to people every year. Yet, the authorities remain nonchalant. The situation has not changed even after the framing of the Dhaka City Road Digging Rules 2019, which stipulates that agencies need to complete the road digging job and make the road usable in 30 days. Roads cannot be dug in the monsoon season, in June鈥揙ctober, unless the job is for emergency services such as power, water and gas supply. The agencies, however, hardly comply with the rules. Utility agencies and other authorities have now dug about 120 road stretches in the city, causing immense suffering to people. In some cases, the agencies are reported to have dug the roads and kept construction materials in a way that has blocked the roads for over a month. Residents fear that their suffering will only worsen once the monsoon begins.
The Dhaka North City Corporation is reported to have given permission to dig 80 road stretches. The city authorities are digging 34 of the stretches while they have allowed 13 other agencies to dig roads. The South City Corporation has allowed eight organisations to dig 40 road stretches. The city authorities claim that they have asked the agencies to begin work before April 30, well before the monsoon season and have doubled the fees for road digging during the monsoon season along with financial penalties for any delay in completing the work. The steps and the penalty that the city authorities claim to have taken, however, have not stopped the menace. Urban planners say that unless the reasons for such indiscriminate and uncoordinated road digging are addressed, the situation will hardly improve. A reason for such chaotic road digging is that various project authorities get funds from the government towards the end financial years, which is just before the monsoon season. The agencies, moreover, often employ inexperienced contractors who do not have the financial capability, logistics, skilled human resources, experience or a work plan. Another major reason is the incoordination between agencies, which often leads to the digging of the same road stretch by different agencies in different seasons.
The government and the city authorities have a number of issues to address to stop the menace created by indiscriminate road digging. The government must ensure that agencies get funds for development projects early in the financial year. The city authorities must also ensure coordination between different agencies before road digging and go tough on contractors and agencies in case of any violation of the Dhaka City Road Digging Rules 2019.
