The Dhaka North City Corporation has filed a general diary (GD) against a contractor employed by the Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (Wasa) for digging up roads without permission.

Solaiman Kabir, an official of the Engineering Division of DNCC Zone 1, filed the general diary at the Uttara Paschim Police Station on Saturday.

According to the GD, a contractor – appointed by Dhaka Wasa – dug up road 9/B, 13 and 34 in Uttara Sector 7, without permission. He did so on Saturday to set up water supply lines. This has been depriving the DNCC of revenue and disrupting the movement of people and vehicles.

Tapan Chandra Saha, officer-in-charge of Uttara Paschim Police Station, said, "The city corporation has filed a GD against a contractor employed by WASA for digging up roads without permission. The city corporation alleged that it was losing revenue."

The DNCC completed development work on several roads in Uttara Sector 7 in August this year.

Sources at the DNCC said that construction of 15 roads in Uttara was completed at a cost of Tk12 crore last August. The contractor, employed by Wasa, wanted permission to dig up three of these roads, but was not allowed to do so as the construction of those was completed just five months ago.

However, the contractor employed under Dhaka Wasa's Water Supply network Improvement Project dug up the roads without the go-ahead.

Dhaka Mahanagarir Sarak Khonon Nitimala-2019, a policy for digging roads in the metropolis, was formulated to reduce the suffering of the people due to road digging in the city corporation area.

The policy was finalised with the views and recommendations of two city corporations of Dhaka along with: Dhaka Wasa, Titas Gas, the Dhaka Power Distribution Company, Dhaka Electric Supply Company Limited, and the Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Limited.

According to the policy, no road can be dug up all at once, or continuously for months. The authorities concerned have to work by dividing a 15-day work schedule into several parts. However, in special cases, 30 days are allowed for excavation work.