State minister terms waterlogging reports on Chattogram city baseless
Local Government State Minister Mir Shahe Alam has claimed that there was no waterlogging in Chattogram Metropolitan City during the rainfall, describing reports of waterlogging as completely baseless, fabricated, and imaginary.
He said propaganda had been spread using images from 2024. According to him, there was waterlogging at five locations.
He made these remarks today, Thursday, in a statement under Rule 300 in the parliament.
It is to mention that on 28 April, heavy rainfall submerged various parts of Chattogram city. The issue was raised in the parliament last Wednesday as a “point of order” by BNP lawmaker Saeed Al Noman. Later, Prime Minister Tarek Rahman apologised to the residents of Chattogram and assured that the problem would be resolved.
In his statement in Parliament today, Thursday, State Minister Shahe Alam said that a narrative had emerged claiming that Chattogram city was floating on water. This was widely circulated on social media. The Prime Minister had apologised to the people of Chattogram during the question-answer session in Parliament regarding this matter.
Following the Prime Minister’s directive, he visited Chattogram on Wednesday to inspect the situation on the ground and toured the city until Thursday afternoon.
The state minister said, “The matter is completely baseless, fabricated, and imaginary. Propaganda has been spread using images from 2024. Based on a report or a statement from one of our Members of Parliament, he (the Prime Minister) ended up apologising. However, I occasionally went out on the streets and spoke with ordinary people. They said they were happy and pleased that the Prime Minister had apologised to the residents of Chattogram. Through this, the Prime Minister has shown great generosity. The city residents have taken it very positively. They said that compared to one or two years ago, the level of waterlogging has now decreased.”
Mir Shahe Alam said that there are a total of 57 canals in Chattogram city. Of these, development work on 36 canals is being implemented by the Bangladesh Army at a cost of Tk 120 billion through the Chattogram Development Authority. Work on 30 canals has already been completed, while work on six is ongoing.
The state minister said that during the implementation of this work, embankments had been constructed in some areas.
Due to sudden heavy rainfall, those embankments caused waterlogging. On that day, Chattogram received 220 millimetres of rainfall.
As a result, waterlogging—not waterlogging—occurred at five places, including Probortok Mor. The water was drained within three to four hours through joint efforts. Today, there is no water in Chattogram.