Stop studying, start solving

But while people suffer the excruciating hardship, their exasperation knows no bound at the theorisation, wrangling, blame-trading that go within government circles and between its different agencies. They have allowed themselves to be in a state of beleaguered desperation. Whereas actions are needed, immediate solutions warranted, they are proving to be past-masters in the art of probing with the pretense of a scientific approach to a vastly aggravated water-logging problem.

Grounds beneath their feet have already slipped for any planned approach, only a high cost partial salvation maybe possible. It is revealed by virtue of an expert committee report that a havoc has been wreaked on the entire drainage system by unplanned roads and illegal structures attributed largely to none other than the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC).

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The probe committee has spotted at least ten major points where water run-off is blocked with the rains inundating the adjoining areas. This, by and large, involves removal or demolition of structures at cost to the exchequer. In addition, there will have to be some by-passes with sizeable amount of money spent on their construction.

It is learnt to our horror that DCC ward commissioners had felt pressured to build those roads without drainage links to meet public demands. As if they themselves were reluctant to do it!

It is an open secret that authorities in charge of issuing work orders, engineers and contractors are all beholden to any construction project like butterflies would be to beehives, because it holds out the prospect of making tons of money. They got it when laying the roads, they might do it again when demolishing or altering them; never mind the act of removal itself implying waste of scarce resource.

Let the responsible be held to account for the unplanned roads while an oversight body makes sure that the new spendings will have been properly audited.