Dhaka North administrator pledged to free 29 canals, including Muslim Bazar canal

On Monday, 29 June 2026, Md Shafiqul Islam Khan, administrator of Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC), said that on the Prime Minister's instructions all 29 canals under the corporation, including the Muslim Bazar canal, would be freed from illegal occupation. He made the announcement as chief guest at the opening of DNCC's tree-planting programme at the Mirpur-10 Adarsha High School ground. According to Prothom Alo and the state news agency BSS, the canals were to be recovered in phases.

As reported by Jagonews24 and BSS, the administrator said that 17 years of dumped waste and encroachment had filled up the capital's canals and left them in the hands of occupiers. Dhaka could not be saved unless the canals were recovered, he said, describing their recovery as necessary to protect residents from waterlogging and environmental risks and for sustainable urban development. Whatever the obstacles, he said, the 29 canals would be freed with the people's support.

A few months earlier, on 2 March 2026, after inspecting the Paris canal in Mirpur, he had said that clogged and filled-up canals in the capital would be excavated and cleaned promptly to control waterlogging and dengue before the rainy season. According to a UNB report carried by the Dhaka Tribune, he also spoke then of a plan to build walkways along both banks of the canals in stages, and said canals long under illegal occupation would be freed through discussion with stakeholders and, if necessary, through legal action.

The administrator said DNCC was carrying out a programme to plant five lakh (500,000) trees in line with the Prime Minister's announcement, and the day's planting was part of it. After the opening, BSS reported, a rally led by the administrator was held, with students, local representatives, leaders at various levels and other guests taking part.

He urged city residents to set up rooftop gardens to reduce pollution and make the capital greener, but asked them to make sure no water collected anywhere on their roofs, so that Aedes mosquitoes, which carry dengue, could not breed there: water standing in every container should be thrown out and the gardens kept clean. The World Health Organization's dengue fact sheet gives similar advice for mosquito control: cover, empty and clean domestic water storage containers weekly, and remove artificial habitats that can hold water.

He asked residents not to throw rubbish everywhere but to help DNCC's cleaners, and called on everyone to come forward together to build the Prime Minister's "Clean Dhaka, Green Dhaka". He also said the government of Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, elected by the people's votes, was working for the people's welfare and would continue to do so.

DNCC came into being on 1 December 2011, after parliament passed the Local Government (City Corporation) Amendment Bill 2011 and the old Dhaka City Corporation was split into northern and southern corporations. It covers about 197 square kilometres, with 54 wards in 10 zones, and the 2022 census counted about 5.99 million people living within its boundaries. With the mayor's post vacant, the corporation was then being run by an administrator.

Later the same day, Prothom Alo reported, the administrator inspected the Gabtoli bus terminal. He said action would be taken against illegal structures there, and that under the rules no bus may stay at or be repaired in a terminal for 24 hours. He also announced steps to improve passenger seating, repair the waiting sheds and roof, and keep the terminal's internal roads clean.

Photo: Mehediabedin / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Sources: Jagonews24, Prothom Alo, BSS, Bangla Tribune, Dhaka Tribune (UNB), Wikipedia, World Health Organization