Dhaka South fails to reduce dust on roads due to water shortage
Dhaka South officials alleged that Wasa was not cooperating with them by supplying water
With winter approaching, the Dhaka South City Corporation could not yet start sprinkling water on streets to reduce dust because Dhaka Wasa is not supplying water.
Khandakar Millatul Islam, adviser to the Dhaka South City Corporation's Waste Management Division, told The Business Standard, "We have kept 10 water vehicles ready to sprinkle water on streets, but Dhaka Wasa is not cooperating with us this year.
"They are coming up with excuses, saying they only had water for drinking, not for spraying on the roads."
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Millatul Islam said Dhaka South needs to spray at least 5 lakh litres of water on the city roads daily to reduce dust. The city corporation has 10 water vehicles each with a capacity to carry 10,000 litres of water.
The Dhaka South official said they persuaded Wasa to supply some water to use on the Suhrawardy Udyan this Saturday as the prime minister had a programme there.
"We are thinking of setting up pumps to meet the water demand," Millatual Islam added.
When contacted about the allegation, Dhaka Wasa's executive engineer Rameshar Das said it was not right that they had not supplied any water. He, however, said the volume of water supplied was less than what Dhaka South wanted "because of a water crisis in the past week".
"There is no crisis right now. We can now supply enough water if they want," said Rameshar Das.
Abul Kashem, the acting managing director of Dhaka Wasa, could not be contacted for comments.
Meanwhile, the Dhaka North City Corporation has not faced any problem in sprinkling water on the roads under its jurisdiction.
Abul Hasnat Md Asraful Alam, acting superintending engineer of the mechanical engineering division of Dhaka North, said they were sprinkling water twice daily on the major city roads. The corporation is getting the water from three deep wells at Gabtoli, Mirpur and Mohakhali.
"Twelve water vehicles of Dhaka North have been spraying water on roads since last month," said Asraful Alam.
In response to a writ petition on January 28 this year, the High Court ordered the two city corporations to sprinkle water on dusty roads in the city twice a day.
