"No major effort has been taken to solve the problem of about 20 lakh people who are now marooned due to the recent rainfall," BNP lawmaker Salahuddin Ahmed said.

Salauddin said the DND people were marooned for about three months last year and the prime minister during a visit there pledged to solve the problem. "After the visit, the prime minister also asked the authorities concerned to take up a project for resolving the problem," he said.

"As a lawmaker of the area, when I asked the water resources ministry what steps it took, the ministry told me that it is a matter of the local government ministry. But the local government ministry said it is a matter of the water resources ministry," he said.

Earlier, another BNP lawmaker Nasiruddin Ahmed Pintu raised the same issue during the question-answer session.

Replying to Pintu, LGRD and Co-operatives Minister Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan told the House that the government is going to take measures to recover the canals from illegal occupants and expand the sewerage lines to resolve the longstanding problem of waterlogging in the capital.

Steps would also be taken to pump out stagnant water from the city areas, he said. The minister, however, said the problem in some areas may not be resolved overnight.

He said Dhaka City is now inhabited by a population almost 10 times its capacity and most of the canals have been filled up. Even concrete roads have been constructed over some canals, obstructing drainage system, he said.

"We've already recovered 15 canals from illegal occupants," he said.

The minister said widespread filling-up of water bodies, including ponds and canals, is the main reason for waterlogging in the city.

CORRUPTION IN LISTING FREEDOM FIGHTERS
Rising on a point of order, Krishok Sramik Janata League lawmaker Kader Siddiqui alleged that the government-formed committees have included fake persons on the freedom fighters' list.

He alleged that a 34-year-old man was listed as a freedom fighter.

"I will place the necessary documents in support of my allegation," Kader Siddiqui, a valiant freedom fighter, told the House.

He said genuine freedom fighters are being harassed by peons and employees of the Liberation War Affairs Ministry and the committee members at thana and district levels who were charged with preparing the list.

"The freedom fighters are being forced to bribe to get their names on the list," he said.

Responding to Kader Siddiqui's allegations, State Minister for Liberation War Affairs M Rezaul Karim assured that if any irregularities are found, the ministry would take stern actions.