The drive will continue today at the other Ramchandrapur canal in Mohammadpur with the view to bringing back the natural flow of the drainage canals.

The total length of the two canals is about 5.5 kilometers, according to Wasa officials. On one side of the flood protection dam, polythene and solid waste have clogged the drainage channel of the Katasur canal, while on the other side people have constructed semi-pucca and pucca buildings, including an office of a local unit of BNP.

Officials claim that the rainwater from city's Tajgaon, Karwan Bazar, New Market and Kalyanpur and Mirpur will be drained out properly if the eviction drive can help clear up the canal.

The eviction team began evicting bamboo-made houses, shops, semi-pucca and pucca buildings from the canal at 11am, amid allegations from some inhabitants that they were not given enough time to shift their valuables.

Countering the allegations, Wasa officials said they have been informing people for the last three days with megaphone messages to move their valuables and houses from the land of the canal.

Rabiya, a teenager living along the canal, said, "Actually they publicised the drive with a microphone, but people didn't heed the message." Many tenants may face trouble passing the night until they find another shelter, she added.

Abu Sayeed Bapari, the local ward commissioner of ward No 46, said, "For the last three years I had been asking them to demolish the illegal houses on the canal but they paid no heed."

Wasa started the eviction drive on March 29, removing illegal structures from the branch canals of the Kalyanpur canal as part of the government decision to recover the city's canals, mainly used for flowing drainage water, from illegal encroachment.

Adequate police were deployed to the spot yesterday to avert any untoward situation, while Wasa Managing Director ANH Akhter Hossain also visited the spot.