Radcliffe, during the partition of Bengal, said that this (former East Pakistan) would be the worst rural slum in the history of mankind. I know we have fared better than that. The high-rise buildings of Dhaka are a marked testimony!

Since the independence of the country, how badly the politicians have behaved! How they disregarded the welfare of the land and people in order to amass their own fortune.

Meanwhile, the unscrupulous land grabbers and builders got the nod from the corrupt people in power to destroy the natural landscape and drainage system in the name of development.

Not that I mean to compare, nor am I a structural engineer, but here in Orlando, Florida (a rapidly growing city) I can see how development occurs. After preparing the land, drainage of the land is ensured first with placing concrete pipes underground before making roads or burying the cables or anything else. When the buildings come up, the infrastructure is already there. We get torrential downpour here, sometimes even flash flood follows, but water recedes in 15 minutes in worst cases in the neighbourhoods. Now that is America. I know they have the resources. And the know-how too.

Is it so hard to learn? Why it is that the rich and powerful cannot think beyond their petty profit.

I left Dhaka long ago. And I am sorry to learn about the state of the city. Lots of development has taken place in the meantime. But it is all meaningless if the development of infrastructure is ignored in the process.

If they don't have the intelligence to tame and befriend the environment, sooner or later they will have to pay for it. Ordinary people will be the worst sufferers. I only feel bad that some honest, decent fellows have to suffer along.