In DND every canal, pond and low-lying area has been filled up by uncollected rubbish generated by more than a million people living there. The severe consequences of unplanned urbanisation are also beginning to show not only with permanent water logging but also with unhealthy living conditions. As the waterlogging starts, the water taps and tubewells get submerged and a severe water crisis persists in the area during rainy season.

Experts in city wastewater drainage system said originally the DND was created to make room for agricultural land near the city. The whole idea of DND agricultural pocket near the city was to keep the city kitchen markets supplied with fresh vegetables. But as time went by, none of the government agencies kept track of the original concept. Slowly and surely the entire DND area was sold out to land-hungry city dwellers, who bought all sizes of plots. The DND area is heavily fortified with dykes and it has one water retention pond with a pump house at Shimrail area to jettison all the wastewater generated inside. The retention pond was originally created to hold rainwater for irrigation in the mid sixties.

The old pump has a capacity of jetting out 14.5 cubic metres of water per second out of the protected area, but unplanned growth of the area has been so rapid that nowadays waste and rain water generated in parts of the area cannot roll on to the retention pond, creating pockets of water logging.

According to officials, one of the biggest blows to the DND came with the construction of Jatrabari-Kanchpur Road and Narayanganj Diversion Road, which instantly created three sub-divisions within the DND area, cutting off drainage in one third of the area.

The Water Development Board (WDB) has now proposed to immediately restore some drainage system by recovering the canals and by setting up a pump with a capacity of jetting out 50 cubic metres of water a second.

The government on June 12 announced launching of a TK 233 crore to address the waterlogging problem at the DND. The Secretary of the Water Resources Ministry, Syed Mohammad Zobaer admitted that unplanned growth of the DND area is creating severe waterlogging problem there and said that an inter-ministerial meeting would soon be held to formally launch the project.

The DND's biggest problem is its lack of municipal facilities such as garbage removal, sewerage and cleanliness. Officials of Narayanganj and Dhaka district administrations, Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) and Narayanganj Municipality said it is not their responsibility to dispose of wastes from the DND area.

"In our record, the DND area had a 45-kilometre long canal network crisscrossing it and ensuring a healthy natural drainage system, but now nothing is left," said a drainage expert of Dhaka Wasa requesting anonymity.

Thousands of tons of industrial and household waste generated in the fast-growing DND area are dumped into ponds, canals and low-lying areas. Wasa and Water Development Board engineers working in the area warned that the area would face a permanent problem of water logging as soon as all its plots are developed. Over 25 percent of the area has already been developed without any proper plan whatsoever, according to Rajuk sources.

When seven years ago Rajuk tried to introduce a plan as per its Dhaka Metropolitan Development Plan (Master Plan), it was forced to back off before a stiff resistance from hundreds of thousands of private landowners. The area has ever since grown without any 'parents', where hundreds of residential buildings and small workshops have been built for low income people.

"Each of the canals has been filled with rubbish, and roads have been paved on natural canals vital for draining water up to the pump's retention point," said an engineer.

The engineer however said there is still time to recover the canals as there are not that many concrete structures on those lands yet.

In 2004, heavy rainfall caused unprecedented water logging in the DND area that lasted for over 24 days with local people, Wasa officials and the army personnel working frantically day and night to pump out the water. The rise in the level of water in the river nearby also threatened to breach the dyke, as thousands of people worked day and night to protect the dyke and avert a catastrophe.