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The discharge of municipal waste and industrial effluents into the Narai canal, spanning seven kilometres from Rampura-Trimohani to the River Balu in Dhaka, keeps polluting the waterway.

The canal flowing down from the Rampura bridge has both its sides littered with waste, from vegetables to metal scraps, with a secondary transfer station standing by it, only adding to the pollution.

The canal water has turned black. Local people put the reason down to effluents that factories nearby, at Uttar Badda and the 300 Feet area, discharge.

Green activists have blamed the authorities for failing to provide the surrounding areas with connections to the sewer network and for taking no effective efforts to protect the canal.

Md Mostafa, who has lived at Aftabnagar for 40 years, said, ‘Breathing becomes difficult at times because of the foul smell coming from the canal water. The situation eases during the monsoon season, but it’s unbearable in the dry season.’

‘It was once a wide waterway. Large trawlers used to carry produces and other products from Ichhapur. But the canal has narrowed down over 20 years or so because of encroachment,’ he said.

Another resident, Sushan, said, ‘We live with a mosquito menace. We can’t keep our windows open even well before the evening.’

Shuman Shams, president of Nagar Trust, has said, ‘This was a river, the River Narai, about 100 metres wide. But encroachment by real estate companies has reduced the width to 50 metres.’

The river that was re-classified as a canal has, however, been given the status of a river in the latest list of 1,415 rivers that the National River Conservation Commission has published.

‘The river continues to be polluted with sewage coming untreated off areas such as Hatirjheel, Madhubagh, Moghbazar and Mahanagar Project,’ Shuman, who has advocated the recognition of the canal as a river, has said.

‘Wastewater from the areas is supposed to be treated at the Rampura pump before discharge. But, it doesn’t happen. The pump does not work most of the time,’ he has said.

Both of Dhaka’s city authorities responsible for the maintenance of the canal have, however, blamed the Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority for not laying out any sewer network in the areas.

Faruque Hassan Md Al Masud, superintending engineer (civil) in charge of drainage at the Dhaka North City Corporation, has said that many local residents discharge sewage into the canal as they do not have the mandatory septic tanks that Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha requires them to do.

The north city authorities are, however, meant to carry the waste from septic tanks to the Dasherkandi Sewage Treatment Plant that the sewerage authorities run. The city corporation’s failure to do so is also blamed for the discharge of waste directly into the canal.

‘There is a policy, introduced in 2016 or 2017, to carry the waste to the treatment plant. But, we have failed to do this for human resource shortage and legal problems,’ he has said.

Mohammad Shafiullah Siddique Bhuiyan, who supervises the waste management department of Dhaka’s south city authorities, has said that they are working to create awareness among residents of the septic tanks and wastewater discharge into the canal.

But, he said that the problem would continue unless the sewerage authorities laid out the sewer network in the areas.

AKM Shahid Uddin, deputy managing director for operations and maintenance at the Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority, has said that work on the sewer network began in the south beyond Banasree. ‘Once all the areas are connected, the canal water won’t remain black.’

Sharif Jamil, member secretary of Dharitri Rakkhay Amra, has said that Dhaka’s canals have become ‘drains’ long ago because of sewage discharge and encroachment.

Government agencies have hardly taken coordinated measures to protect the canals. ‘No one is concerned about its impact on public health and economic losses,’ he has said.