A road of suffering

Everything was going smoothly for Mukta Rani, a mother-to-be, until a miscarriage on May 8. Though it is very important to take someone who has just had a miscarriage to the hospital immediately, Biplob Chandra Shil, Mukta's husband, failed to do so as vehicular movement on Road 3 of Chamelibagh in Dhaka's Shantinagar  has stopped for the last two months due to drainage work by Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC).

Mukta could have died on her way to the hospital as she was bleeding while having to walk on the road. It was a strenuous 30-minute walk to the main road.

“She was so weak and unwell that she could not walk and had to rest on the road after moving every few yards and I poured water on her head several times to make her feel better,” said Biplob.

The drainage work of DSCC, which started two months back, is far from finished. The contractor, who was supposed to finish the work by May 9, suspended the work around one month back.

Even the officials of DSCC who are responsible to monitor it did not know about the state of the work. They took initiative when this correspondent drew their attention on Wednesday.

“I was not aware of this. Since I came to know about this, I have taken necessary steps and the work will resume from next week,” said executive engineer of zone-2, DSCC, Hanif Patuwary.

The contractor put all the old pipes, debris and garbage on the road after digging it and putting in new pipes. The debris and old pipes narrowed the approximately 10 feet wide road to only one or two feet. Now, even a motor cycle cannot move on the road, let alone a car.

“It took around 30 minutes for me and my wife to reach the main road from where we could get a rickshaw,” said a frustrated Biplob who moved to the house this month from Shantibagh.

Nasrin Nahar, another pregnant woman living on the same road, had to endure the same ordeal as she had to go to hospital with the help of her family members on May 7.

“My mother vomited twice while walking on the road with the support of me and my aunt. A horrible stench was coming from the under-construction drain which she could not tolerate,” said Naima Chowdhury, daughter of Nasrin and an HSC candidate.

“It was really tough for me during the rain, as the road was under one-foot water,” she said.

Naima said since the road-work began, their family has been having a hard time. Her father has to carry a 20-litre water jar every day from other areas as they get stinky water through Wasa pipeline.

The situations of over thousands of residents who have to use the road are the same. Those who own cars are forced to pay for garages outside the road to keep their vehicles parked.