Frequent accidents in Chattogram’s open drains and canals have become a recurring cause of fatalities. In response, Chattogram City Corporation (CCC) has started installing bamboo fences around risky drains as a short-term measure.
However, residents and experts have expressed doubts about its effectiveness and are calling for permanent steel guardrails.
On April 18, a six-month-old child tragically died after falling into an open drain in Kapasgola under the Chawk Bazar police station. Following this incident, CCC placed bamboo fences at the location to alert pedestrians.
Similar fences have been set up around several other exposed drains across the city.
However, residents have voiced dissatisfaction with the measure. “Bamboo fencing is not a solution. It may serve as a temporary warning, but it cannot provide lasting safety,” said Tawfiq Hossain Mahin, a resident of Halishahar.
Ikramul Haque, a resident of Agrabad, said, “We need immediate guardrails and proper drainage management. People should not have to die like this.”
Town planner and Vice President of the Planned Chattogram Forum, Engineer Subhash Barua, told TIMES of Bangladesh, “We want a secure city. Bamboo fences are not safe, and accidents can happen at any moment.”
Professor Asiful Haque, former chairman of the Civil Engineering Department at Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology (CUET), stated, “Bamboo can be used temporarily during the monsoon, but permanent steel guardrails are essential.
“Bamboo will decay quickly, and a project must be undertaken for long-term solutions.”
Acknowledging this limitation, CCC Chief Engineer Anisur Rahman told TIMES of Bangladesh, “The bamboo fences are a stopgap measure to prevent people from falling in. However, permanent guardrails require dedicated projects, which we currently do not have.”
According to a 2021 CCC survey, the city has about 1,137 kilometers of drains and canals, of which 19 kilometers remain without guardrails. The survey also identified 5,527 risky open drains across the city.
Over the past decade (2015–2025), at least 14 people, including several children, have died after falling into uncovered drains and canals in Chattogram.
The most recent incidents include the death of a three-year-old in Anandapur, Halishahar, on July 9, and a seven-month-old in April this year. In May 2024, a man named Azizul Hakim died after falling into an open canal in Asadganj.
Earlier cases include a three-person auto-rickshaw accident in Sholoshahar in 2021, the death of a vegetable vendor in Muradpur the same year, and multiple child fatalities in Sholoshahar and Agrabad.
