Helemul Alam

The rivers encircling Dhaka have been gasping for survival for decades, choked by pollution and encroachment.

City dwellers are still experiencing poor civic services six months after the formation of the interim government.

As Bangladesh braces for another year with the threat of dengue looming, experts have urged the government to adopt comprehensive and year-round strategies to curb the spread of the mosquito-borne disease.

Throughout this month, we have published six reports on Dhaka’s canals, detailing how these water bodies, once the lifeblood of the capital’s drainage system, are now clogged, encroached upon, and reduced to narrow, polluted channels.

At first glance, Dayaganj in the old part of Dhaka appears to be a typical city street scene.

Once upon a time, boats would glide through the waters of Karwan Bazar. Laden with goods -- sacks of rice, fresh vegetables, timber, and pottery -- these boats would anchor at the dock near what is now the Film Development Corporation.

Flood-flow zones, crucial for maintaining Dhaka’s ecological balance, are rapidly vanishing, leaving the city increasingly vulnerable to waterlogging, loss of groundwater recharge, and potential flooding.

Designed to rescue Dhaka from floods, water retention ponds are now in need of rescue themselves. These basins, meant for stormwater management, are shrinking rapidly due to encroachments, unplanned urbanisation, and government neglect..Just like the capital’s canals, these lifelines are n

The annual death toll from dengue so far crossed 500-mark yesterday, for the second year in a row.

Is it a road or a lake? This is the question that commuters often ask themselves when they step into the streets of Dhaka even after a little drizzle.

In Dhaka, rain comes as a call for chaos. Streets get submerged, water often invades homes in low-lying areas, and life in the capital slows to a frustrating crawl.

With 837 new dengue cases reported yesterday, the total number of cases this year has surged past 90,000.

The dengue death toll in Bangladesh this year surpassed the 450-mark yesterday, making it only the second time in 24 years that fatalities from the mosquito-borne disease have crossed this threshold.

In the first 22 days in November, the country has already witnessed over 123 deaths and 23,009 dengue cases, showing an alarming trend this year.

Despite being mid-November, dengue has claimed 84 lives and hospitalised 15,784 people in this month so far.

The first eight days of November have seen 45 dengue deaths, highlighting an alarming rise in fatalities.

With three new dengue deaths yesterday, the total number of deaths has risen to 300 this year, depicting a grim picture of how losing lives to the mosquito-borne disease has become a regular scenario over recent years.

Kamrul Hasan, 42, a resident of Narayanganj, is undergoing treatment at the dengue ward of Dhaka Medical College Hospital.

With three days left in October, the total number of dengue deaths has reached 114, marking the highest monthly toll this year.

With an urgent need for birth certificates of his family members, Mohammad Ziaul Haque, an employee of a private organisation, went to the zonal office of Dhaka North City Corporation in the capital’s Mohammadpur on Tuesday.