Hatirjheel starts stinking
Water polluted: Waste piles up
Hatirjheel Project, the much talked about recreation centre, is losing its appeal and attraction and started to stinking now.
Sources said when it rains, solid waste mixed with it enters the Hatirjheel-Begunbari Lake, and thereby, pollutes the lake water.
Most of the visitors do not apply civic sense when they go to the project area. They carry with them soft drinks bottles, polythene filled with ground nut, biscuits and newspaper and leave those there after use. Since those are not removed, environment gets polluted.
Visitors, and residents living around the project area are deeply frustrated at the fading of aesthetic beauty, and said that the project,
which started early this year with a bang, appears to have lost much of its appeal by this time.
A K M Shahid Uddin, Project Director (PD), WASA said, the dirty water flows to Rampura Khal from Gulshan Lake through Hatirjheel. This is one of the reasons of pollution of canal water.
As a temporary solution to the problem, he said, WASA will set up a pumping station shortly near the Rampura Bridge to pump out black water before it falls into the Hatirjheel lake to Rampura Khal in order to keep lake water neat and clean,” A K M Shahid Uddin said.
About the complaint of weak security system, he said that the government would soon recruit security personnel and cleaners to improve the security and keep the project clean.
Nazmul Haque, a resident of Rampura, claimed that the project was not properly planned. Its supervision is also vulnerable. “The stinking near the Rampura Bridge and in the back of the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel is frustrating,” he said. The black polluted water when it rains spreads bad smell making it impossible to stay nearby. But there seems no initiative to improve the situation, Nazmul Haque said.
The rainwater was supposed to enter the lake through the Panthapath box culvert to hold the rainwater. But at present, solid waste also enters the lake, the project sources said.
Screens were set up to stop solid waste from entering the lake but piles of huge solid waste caused stagnation in the Dhanmondi, Kalabagan and Panthapath areas, they said.
WASA removed the fixed screen as an immediate solution to address the water stagnation and it worsened the condition of the lake.
Shahid Uddin, however, said that as a temporary solution to the problem, WASA was planning to set up a pumping station near the Rampura Bridge. They installed two types of screens in the project fixed screen and mechanical screen. WASA removed the fixed screen forever as solid waste used to block the screen frequently,’ he said.
However, Rajuk Superintending Engineer and Project Director ASM Raihanul Ferdous said that residents of Panthapath, Kalabagn and Dhanmondi had been suffering for water stagnation because of heavy rainfall this monsoon for which they withdrew the screen.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the ‘Integrated Development of Hatirjheel Area including Begunbari Khal project’ in January 2013.
The main objectives of the 302-acre project were to connect the eastern and western part of Dhaka, reduce traffic jam, improve Dhaka’s drainage and sewerage system, it has turned into a hot spot for people to spend some quality time over there.
Courtesy of The New Nation
