The Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) has stepped in to rescue the illegally occupied portion of the Rupnagar canal in the capital.
On Sunday morning, a drive got underway to evict illegal structures on both sides of Road No. 23 adjacent to the Rupnagar canal.
DNCC Mayor Atiqul Islam said that a stern warning had been issued against illegal occupants.
“The illegal occupants should have vacated as soon as possible. We warned that necessary operations will be carried out without any notice and illegal installations will be demolished,” he said.
The task of restoring 5 cannels was officially handed over from WASA to two city corporations. The DNCC resumed operations after being halted due to the pandemic.
DNCC has taken various initiatives to rescue the canal and restore its water flow as well as to change the look of the canal in aesthetics.
Earlier, the DNCC removed 9,300 tonnes of waste from 14 canals including Sagufta Canal, Ramchandrapur Canal, Ibrahimpur Canal, Godagari Canal and Rupnagar Canal in the first two months.
The DNCC intends to connect these canals with four rivers. Apart from this, a project has been taken to raise several bridges from Hatirjheel to Kalachandpur, Banani Cemetery, Karail slum.This is reported to be in process in the local government department.
On the other hand, DNCC has formed a coordination cell with various officials to manage canals, culverts, storm water drains and cleaning activities affiliated to DNCC after entrusting two city corporations to control waterlogging.
The mayor said that DNCC will work in three steps to beautify the canal by demarcating it and demarcating the boundaries. In that case, the work will be done in short, medium and long term.
“After vacating the canel, water flow will be restored by removing the waste. The company will then plant trees on the banks of the canal, walkways and bicycle lanes,” he said.
There are 26 canals under DNCC and they plan to work first to demarcate the banks and clear the canal by removing illegal structures from all the canals.
