Despite Dhaka WASA transferring 26 canals to Dhaka North and South City Corporations on December 31, 2020, the mayors of the two city corporations have only made announcements regarding the reclamation of the canals for nearly three years, but there has been no visible progress in reality.

Not only that, both city corporations could not determine the boundary of the canal. Dhaka South City Corporation has taken up a project in four canal versions but could not start visible operations. However, experts feel that a proper plan must be taken to save the canal.

No canal has been recovered by both city corporations: Among the 26 canals under the jurisdiction of the two city corporations, not a single canal has been recovered by either of them. However, at the beginning of 2021, DNCC Mayor Md. Atiqul Islam recovered the Lautola canal in Basila of Mohammadpur.

After the canal recovery program, he stated that all illegally constructed structures in each canal will be demolished. But it has been two years since that announcement, and one canal still remains unrecovered.

On the other hand, Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) has conducted various campaigns to remove illegal structures in the canals. The two organizations are currently working on cleaning the waste present in the canals.

The project for the restoration of four canals has not started even after 10 months: DSCC has undertaken a project worth 898 crore taka for the removal of waste, dredging, maintenance, and conservation of Shamapur, Jirani, Manda, and Kalunagar canals, along with their seven branches. The project was approved during a meeting held on October 11 last year.

Although the project has been ongoing for 10 months, no visible work has started yet. However, on the 15th of last month, a letter was sent by the corporation's property division to the Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK).

The letter mentioned that a meeting would be held with RAJUK, the district administrator, Dhaka WASA, land records, and survey department representatives under the chairmanship of the mayor on May 30 of the current year. It instructed RAJUK to provide information regarding the owners of the land on both sides of the canal, along with the construction of walkways and the creation of beautiful and friendly environments around the canal. However, the corporation failed to provide the information to complete the canal's mapping.

Regarding DSCC’s project for the restoration, conservation, and creation of an aesthetic environment for the canals, Khairul Bakar, project director, told Bangladesh Pratidin, “The work of canal restoration and conservation is ongoing. The property division is responsible for determining the canal's boundaries in the project. After the completion of boundary demarcation, the canal's mapping will be done. Only after that, the visible work of the project will begin.”

Complexity in determining canal boundaries in Dhaka North: DNCC undertook a project to determine the canal boundaries at the beginning of 2021. The Bangladesh Army's 14 Independent Engineer Brigade (12 Engineer Battalion and 57 Engineer Company) and Adhok Construction Supervision Consultant (CSC) are responsible for the implementation of the project.

According to the project sources, pillar installation to determine the boundaries of the canal started based on the CSC survey last year. However, due to the installation of pillars based on the CSC survey, many personal properties have been affected. More than three hundred complaints have been lodged, all of which are related to encroachment on personal land in various areas and government buildings.

River and Delta Research Center (RDC), after conducting extensive research on the canals in the capital, has found that the canal is surrounded by several hundred personal properties. The Chairman of the organization, Mohammad Eajaz, told Bangladesh Pratidin that to recover the canal, a survey is required from everyone. After completing the survey, the canal's boundaries need to be determined. Only then can the canal be recovered. However, even after having 26 canals under the City Corporation, recovering all of them and undertaking development projects is a challenging task. It is necessary to determine one canal first. Once that canal is recovered and development projects are initiated in it, the process will become easier.

@ The article was published on print and online versions of The Bangladesh Pratidin on July 19, 2023, and has been rewritten in English by Tanvir Raihan.