47 canals of the city destroyed in filling

Dhaka canals are being lost due to lack of maintenance. 47 canals have been wiped out in the last 46 years from the capital map. Only four out of the remaining 15 were recognized as lakes, but others were found to be submerged in the filling space. Due to heavy rainfall, severe water logging is occurring in the city due to rain. This caused unbearable sufferings in the public life. Experts say water logging in Dhaka is due to inadequate drainage system, digging of roads, co-ordination and canals. To solve this problem, they emphasize the need for reclamation of canals and digging them.
As the Dhaka WASA, there were 54 canals in the capital till 1971. In 1981, its number came down to 47. Currently, 26 canals have been found in Dhaka, but most of the existence is in crisis. Larger canals occupy houses and multi-storey buildings.
At one time, most of the canals connecting through the city were connected with the four major rivers in the capital. Such as Sutrapur, Loharapul, Buriganga, Buriganga of Basilah of Mohammadpur, Turag from Abdullahpur of Uttarar, Turag from Uttarakhand, Balu through Khilkhet Duminy and connecting with Shitalakshya river in Maniknagar were connected by the canals. Those are just past forgotten.
The famous Dhaka's Dholiikhal lost. The same situation has been created in Kutubakhali canal. The Abdullahpur canal has already been divided into several parts due to the plot of the road and the RAJUK plot, now it has turned into a small naloose.
The Munda canal area in the eastern part of the capital is being used as a means of seepage. However, the canal-shrinking area has become a privately-owned property long before the possession-pollution. The neighboring land of Basila canal and canal adjacent to Dhaka Mohammadpur and two side landowners of the Buriganga river have already occupied them.
Before a decade ago, the Paribag canal from Shahbagh to the bigger Magbazar, Arambagh canal from Vijayanagar to the Bangladesh Bank. By the time the canals have turned into roads. Rajabazar canal, Dholaykhal-1, Dholaykhal-2, Shahjahanpur canal, Gulshan-Banani canal, southgaon-Nandipara canal, Rajarbagh-Nandipara canal, Nasirabad-Nandipara canal, Nandipara-Trimohani khal, Bukhkhara canal and Govindpur canals are now unincorporated.
The Butcherbari Canal is now converted into a drone from Uttara residential area through Tongkhali canal through Uttarakhan. Mirpur Journalist Colony Khal, Mohakhali canal, Basabo canal, Kalyanpur canals became turned into nalas. Meradia and Ghazaria canals now worn out. Khalakhekora is selling plots by grabbing the canal and filling it. In the name of reclamation of canal, RAJUK, city corporation, WASA did a lot of small and big operations but no work was done.
Professor Nazrul Islam, a renowned city planner for the canal rescue, said water logging in Dhaka due to inadequate drainage system, digging of roads, RAJUK, city corporation and WASA and the acquisition of canals were causing the water logging. He emphasized the problem of finding and digging canals to solve this problem. He said, many canals, including Dholaykhal, DND canal, are eradicated today. The trench around Nikunja was shrunk because of lack of preservation. Dhaka city will turn into a waterlogged district if it fails to recover the canal. He believes the rescue of the canal should be the number one agenda of the government.
Engineer Taksim A Khan, Managing Director of Dhaka WAS said that the main reason of water logging in the capital is to get rid of the existing canals. City Corporation and Dhaka WASA are working jointly to rescue the expansed canals. Many canals have already been recovered. The campaign will continue in the future.