Waterlogging causes Tk 500 crore loss in Riazuddin Bazar

Cloth merchant Mohammad Rahmat Ali is staring helplessly at his goods ruined by water. With a heavy heart, he slowly said, "At least Tk 10 lakh worth of my cloth has been soaked and destroyed by water. No one will buy wet fabric; it will get stained."
On Monday morning, Riazuddin Bazar area in Chattogram was submerged by heavy rainwater, and now the assessment of damages is underway. Although the water has receded, merchants are busy clearing wet and ruined products accumulated in their shops and warehouses. They are facing substantial financial losses as various items, including cloth, blankets, shoes, bags, cosmetics, and electronics, have been destroyed.

Riazuddin Bazar, Tamakumdi Lane, Golam Rasul Market, Nupur Market, the Kacha Bazar (vegetable market), and others were inundated. The entire area has around two hundred small and large markets, housing approximately 25,000 shops. All are collectively referred to as Riazuddin Bazar. The ground floors of almost all these markets were flooded yesterday. Leaders of the merchant association believe the losses will exceed Tk 500 crore.

Mohammad Salamat Ali, President of the Riazuddin Bazar Merchants Association, said, "I haven't seen such water since 1997. Due to the sudden waterlogging, individual merchants have lost Tk 8 to 10 lakh or more worth of cloth, blankets, shoes, and electronic goods. The total estimated loss across the market is around Tk 500 crore."

Visiting the markets and speaking with affected merchants, it was learned that water started inundating floors and affecting inventories around 9 AM Monday. At that time, it was still raining heavily. Many had not yet opened their shops. Those who had opened couldn't find the opportunity to move goods kept on the floor or lower sections in time. The shops remained submerged for about two hours. After the rain stopped, the water began to recede.

On Tuesday, merchants were still busy cleaning water, mud, and debris from their shops. Some were trying to salvage relatively better items from among the goods ruined by the rain.

Shoe seller Iftikhar Uddin also sounded hopeless. He said, "Just two days ago, I brought in Tk 7 lakh worth of new shoes. It was late at night, so I went home without arranging them on racks. Everything was on the floor. When I came in the morning, I saw everything floating in the water. Who can I show this sorrow to?"

Besides Riazuddin Bazar, surrounding business establishments in Tamakumdi Lane, Nupur Market, and neighboring areas were also hit by waterlogging. Although the water has receded, merchants remain anxious about their damaged goods. This market serves as a wholesale hub where traders from various districts and upazilas come daily to buy products. As a result, they believe the impact of the losses will extend beyond local businesses to traders across the country.

Merchants said that this market has already been flooded two to three times this monsoon season. Just a few hours of waterlogging causes billions of taka in damages. They are repeatedly suffering losses due to recurring waterlogging. If this continues, traders will eventually lose all their capital. They are demanding a permanent solution to the problem; otherwise, they will face the same situation again. They have called for rapid drainage systems during heavy rain, regular cleaning of sewers and drains, and the development of an effective market-centric water drainage infrastructure.