"The other family members moved away from our shack in Shahajadpur as the house went under 8 to 10 feet water. But I have stayed back. There were about eighty families living in our slum but the flood situation forced them to leave. Most people have kept their belongings tied on the partition below the tin-shed roofs and have locked the doors.

'But local miscreants are breaking into the houses and stealing things and the police is not doing anything to prevent it. They don't even patrol the area," said Amjad Ahmed, a Badda resident.

"I really do not know what has happened to my house after I left it because of the flood. I have heard stories about neighbours losing their belongings," says Shaheda Banu who also lives in Badda.

Given the security fear, a lot of people, mostly young have decided to stay and guard their homes despite the fact that the houses have gone under floodwater.

"Who is going to look after my house? Besides, young people who seek shelter, face police harassment," said one such youth Ali Hossain.

There are also reports that the flood-affected people are not getting minimum relief.

"The authorities are preparing lists of people of their choice and only those few are receiving help," complained Minara Begum of Malibagh.

"Only twice have we actually received relief and that was distributed by an influential person of the area," says Komola from a neighboring house.

"It is hard to find a police patrol. If the police force is not adequate then the army should be deployed. Quite often we hear loud screams and cursing from people staying in nearby flood shelters and eventually fights break up," said Anwar Chowdhury, who lives close to a makeshift shelter.

Volunteers however disagree with the claims.

"There is no problem. The police officers are making regular rounds around the shelter. Lists are made of the total number of inhabitants living here and they are supplied with relief accordingly," said Ripon, a volunteer at shelter 113 in Gulshan.

"There are almost 300 flood shelters in the city and whenever a new one is setup we immediately send three to four personnel to the spot following the official request from the local ward commissioner," said Assistant Commissioner of Police, Mahmudur Rahman.

The ASP however acknowledged that manpower is limited.

"The number of police personnel deployed to patrol the affected areas is not sufficient. Quite often relief workers arrive in these shelters to help a maximum of 200 or 300 people but when it turns out to be 1500, chaos naturally reigns.

'Regarding security, it is not possible for us to patrol all the affected areas. We do not boats and whenever something criminal happens, we try to rush there on rented boats but that too is a difficult exercise. The boatmen also charge a lot, about Tk 30 to 40 per ride. It also boat does not stop everywhere and once we get dropped at one spot, going to another places becomes another hassle."