The indiscriminate road digging in Dhaka city is causing great misery for the people, and the approaching monsoon is feared to make matters worse.
Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority, Dhaka South City Corporation, Dhaka North City Corporation, Titas Gas Distribution and Company Limited, Dhaka Electric Supply Company Limited, Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited, and the Public Works Department are among the agencies digging roads in the city.
DNCC鈥檚 one-stop coordination cell for road cutting on February 11 gave permission to dig 80 roads under its jurisdiction.
According to officials, the DNCC was digging 34 of the roads while authorising 13 other organisations to do the same.
On March 12, DSCC鈥檚 one-stop coordination cell gave permission to eight organisations to dig 40 roads and asked them all to start work before April 30.
DSCC has been digging the road along Dayaganj Bazar for over a month.
Residents feared that the work would not be completed within the next two months.
The road has been dug in a way that even a bicycle cannot pass, with 8鈥�10-foot-high pipes left on the road.聽
鈥楾he digging started here over a month ago, leaving us immensely suffering. I am afraid the suffering will multiply once the rain starts,鈥� said Tarikul Islam, a resident and shopkeeper in the area.
Abdul Awal, an elderly resident in the area, alleged that a transformer at the entrance of the road had collapsed during digging. Instead of repairing it, the contractor balanced it using several bamboos.
He feared an accident due to the electric transformer as people walked down the road.聽
In the past week, DPDC started digging roads to repair underground pipelines on the Dhaka University campus near Palashi crossing.聽
Dhaka WASA was found digging roads to improve its water pipeline on Shahid Nazrul Islam Road, Hatkhola, in the capital鈥檚 Tikatuli area.
Residents in the area claimed that they were suffering immensely as the work had been going on for the past three weeks.
Road digging is also underway in many areas under the DSCC jurisdiction, including East Shahjahanpur, Segun Bagicha, Wari, and Motijheel.聽
Dhaka City Road Digging Rules 2019 discourage road cutting during the rainy season between June and October.
According to the rules, no agency should keep a road excavated for more than 30 days.
Addressing as chief guest at a programme in Dhaka on Wednesday, DSCC mayor Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh said that as different project authorities get funds from the Annual Development Programme at the end of a financial year, they come to the city corporation for permission to dig roads.聽
鈥榃e have permitted on the condition that no digging will start after April 30... If we become strict, they have threatened us that they will start work without waiting for permission from the city corporation,鈥� said Taposh.聽
Urban planner and architect Iqbal Habib said that the two Dhaka city corporations had failed to coordinate the issue of road digging with other agencies concerned.聽
He pointed out that city authorities get high rates for road digging during the monsoon, and the agencies concerned want to finish their task by June ahead of budget approval.聽
鈥楾here is no alternative to taking policy-level decisions to get rid of this crisis,鈥� said Bangladesh Institute of Planners former president Mohammad Fazle Reza Sumon.
He said that it was unfortunate that the local government authorities did not make any coordination, despite the handful of organisations involved in road digging.聽
鈥楾he problem has been ongoing for more than two decades, and city residents are paying the price,鈥� he said.
DNCC was found digging roads from Barek Molla Mor to Kazipara in the capital鈥檚 Mirpur area.
There was no signboard mentioning the names of the authorities involved in the work.聽
The City Road Digging Rules clearly say that the implementing agencies must keep a signboard of the work.
DNCC is also digging on Bir Muktijoddha Hasan Ali Road in South Manipur at Mirpur-2.
Tareq Aziz, a private company employee living in the area, said that the road had been dug for about three weeks.
鈥楲et alone using a rickshaw or other vehicles; it is even difficult to walk at night. We are afraid about what will happen when it rains. The project should have been taken before,鈥� he said.
Several roads, like Road-4 at East Kalyanpur, Road-13, and a road near South Paikpabara Central Mosque, were dug.
鈥榃e are giving permission to dig roads as per the need, depending on the duration of project completion,鈥� said Mir Khairul Alam, DNCC chief executive officer.
He said that they would try to address the issue.