RAWALPINDI: Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) has asked Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC) to de-silt drains along the main roads of the garrison city and coordinate with relevant departments to ensure preventive measures are in place to avoid water accumulation during heavy rains in the upcoming monsoon season.

In a letter to the RMC chief municipal officer, RDA Director General Kinza Murtaza said that the garrison city has a favourable topography for natural stormwater drainage. It has several stormwater channels and natural nullahs passing throughout the city,and Leh Nullah, Kassi East, and West are the salient drainage channels of the city, which also carry the sewage from the city.

“The Leh Nullah and its tributaries pass through the city, traversing a meandering route. The roadside drains are also constructed by different agencies (RDA, MCR, Highway Department, etc.) for the disposal of stormwater drainage to avoid the accumulation of rainwater on the roads.Maintenance of these roadside drains is the responsibility of the respective agencies,” she said.

However, she said that it has been observed that these drains are now silty after the passage of time due to a lack of maintenance and blockage of disposal points and sewer/drainage connections made by high-rise commercial buildings (food corners, laundries, hair salons, etc.) on all commercial roads. “The waste generated by these commercial activities is directly thrown into these drains, and no legal action has been taken by the agencies approving building plans,” she said.

Recently, she said that local ponding has been observed at different roads due to siltation, and the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa), Rawalpindi, deployed heavy machinery and staff to carry out dewatering on these sore points in order to augment the drainage system in Rawalpindi city during monsoon season.

It is pertinent to mention that Wasa, Rawalpindi, does not have sufficient human, mechanical, and financial resources to carry out the desilting works of these roadside drains on a regular basis.

In the letter, she suggested that the concerned development agencies and local government departments be kindly approached to carry out the following tasks, including the desilting of roadside drains, to avoid any untoward situations during monsoon season 2024.

Disconnection of all sewer connections from roadside drains, and, therefore, before approving building plans, a NOC be obtained from Wasa for clearance of pending liabilities and proper sewage disposal.

Apart from this, RDA Director General Kinza Murta also asked to remove all kinds of encroachments along Leh Nullah and its tributaries before monsoon season, as Wasa is going to begin work on the cleanliness of Leh Nullah and 11 big nullahs next week.

She said that encroachments along the Leh Nullah and 11 big nullahs were the main hurdle in moving heavy machinery, and therefore, it was the duty of the RMC to remove encroachments along the nullahs under its administrative control areas.

She said that there would be no results if the cleanliness work was not done on time. She said that there were clear directions from the government to complete the cleanliness of the nullahs before the start of the monsoon season.

Published in Dawn, May 3rd, 2024