Two ponds in the city鈥檚 old part at Gandaria are surviving the scare of encroachment and pollution after a dozen of waterbodies in the same locality vanished as elsewhere in the city amid urbanisation challenging the ecosystem.
One is located at Distillery Road, close to Dhupkhola playground, and the other one is situated at the DIT Plot, adjacent to Gandaria railway station.
The first one, on an area of around 2.4 acres, has been included as the khas land under the ongoing city survey, while the pond at DIT Plot on over 4 acres of land is owned by Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha.
Dug in 1965 under a pilot-based housing project by the then city development authority Dhaka Improvement Trust, RAJUK had to make several drives in the past to keep it free from repeated encroachment and construction of illegal structures.
In September 2023, the last drive was conducted to demolish around two dozen structures, including the illegally-built ward councillor office.聽聽
Another drive against new encroachment and remove debris had been launched, said RAJUK chief engineer Md Nurul Islam on August 29.
Besides, RAJUK plan to renovate the pond and build a walkway for the benefit of local people was delayed following a writ petition pending at the High Court, he added.
Environmentalists find negligence on the part of the government bodies concerned to deal with writ petitions and stay orders by encroachers, many of them are linked to political parties, to protect the waterbodies.聽聽
Referring the Water Bodies Conservation Act, 2000 that prohibits filling up natural waterbodies, Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon general secretary Alamgir Kabir alleged that the government law officers had often failed to submit necessary documents to the court to protect public interest.聽
Urban development continues unchecked as Dhaka city lost 44 per cent of its waterbodies between 1990 and 2021, degrading its natural flood buffers, recharge capacity and heat absorption.
鈥楾he capital city is heading towards a climate disaster,鈥� said the BAPA general secretary, adding local community should be involved to conserve the ponds.
Since 1996, Dhupkhola Pukur Par has been maintained by a local committee that earned the praise of the environmentalists.
Protected with boundary walls and fences, the pond looks an oasis amid concrete structures all around.
Selim Ahmed, a member of the local committee, said the century-old聽pond belonged to the government but they maintained it to conserve the environment.
In 2000, the Dhaka deputy commissioner office recognised their contribution for protecting the pond, he said.
Dhaka鈥檚 additional deputy commissioner Md Badruddoza Shuvo said that the DC office had no links to the pond.聽聽聽
The pond had been included as khas land until one Mohammad Ali took control of the pond following a decree obtained in 2003.
The pond has again been included as khas land in the ongoing city survey, said the additional deputy commissioner.聽
Because of the ineffectual government bodies, Dhaka city鈥檚 environmental degradation continued, alleged architect and urban planner Iqbal Habib.
He said that the fast vanishing greenery and waterbodies are largely to be blamed for the city鈥檚 poor score in the Global Liveability Index of The Economist Intelligence Unit.
In 2024, Dhaka, one of the world鈥檚 most densely populated cities with around 20 million people, was ranked the sixth worst liveable city among 173 across the world, one step down yet from its rank of 7th in 2023.
