LAHORE: As Thursday’s record-breaking rain kept the civic agencies, especially Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa), on toes, it also created sinkholes on roads, including Khayaban-i-Firdausi in Johar Town where an old trunk sewer ruptured due to extraordinary flow and drainage of rainwater.

On the other hand, the people in a number of residential and commercial areas spent the whole day without water due to non-operation of tube wells beside suspension of electricity supply because of tripping of hundreds of 11kV feeders.

“In every rainy season, we see sudden appearance of sinkholes on this road. But no one cares as the government continues to spend huge money on filling of these sinkholes instead of replacing the outlived trunk sewer despite knowing the actual cause,” deplores a motorist who was stuck in the traffic congestion close to the sinkhole near Shadiwal Chowk in Johar Town.

“Sometimes ago, a couple of people riding in a car also fell down into the sinkhole. They faced multiple injuries but who cares,” he continues lashing out at the government.

Wasa, Lesco tested till breaking point

According to experts, depression in a road happens if water seeps underground and causes erosion. It may also happen if there is improper or substandard earth-filling, compaction or asphalt-laying work.

“A sinkhole or depression means the surface of the ground is no longer supported and during rains when the asphalt layer gets weak or if any heavy vehicle speedily passes by, it causes the ‘hollow road surface’ to sink,” says an expert, criticising the government for not replacing the outlived trunk sewer lines with the new ones in order to avoid such incidents. The rupture of old sewer lines keeps happening frequently, causing road depressions and damaging the infrastructure besides affecting the routine life of the public at large, he says.

However, an official source in Wasa, claims that the project to replace the outlived sewer lines has been approved by the current Punjab government and the work would be launched soon.

NO WATER SUPPLY: The Lahorites spent several hours without water and electricity due to various issues caused by the heavy rain. In the absence of water in the tanks, the people couldn’t take even bath or use the toilet.

“It was a horrible day as the tube wells in our areas didn’t operate the whole day. When we contacted the officials, they said the operation of tube wells during rains is not allowed as Lahore’s sewerage cannot bear the load of both domestic sewage and stormwater,” explains a resident of a locality near Data Darbar.

Wasa Deputy Managing Director Abdul Latif says the operation of tube wells during rain cannot be carried out before drainage of the huge amount of stormwater.

ELECTRICITY ISSUES: The torrential rain badly affected the Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco) power distribution system.

The rain caused tripping of 407 feeders, leaving a number of areas without electricity for most part of the day. According to a spokesman, the rain tripped 65 feeders in Lesco’s first circle, followed by 93 in second, 56 in third, five in fourth, 111 in fifth, 18 in sixth, 55 in seventh and six in eighth circles.

“We managed to energise 231 of the total 407 feeders till 3pm,” he said, adding that the supply was restored to many areas by the evening. However, there are reports the electricity in various parts of the city was yet to be restored till filing of this report at 8pm on Thursday.

disconnected: SNGPL teams on Thursday disconnected another 62 illegal gas connections and imposed fines totalling Rs1.2 million on account of gas pilferage and other illegalities. In Lahore, according to a spokesman, the enforcement team disconnected one connection for illegal use of gas and two for use of compressors.

In Bahawalpur, four connections were disconnected due to the use of compressors.

A team in Gujranwala disconnected three connections for illegal gas use, while in Gujrat, one connection was disconnected for illegal gas use and two for the use of compressors, with a fine of Rs0.02 million.

A team in Sahiwal disconnected one connection for illegal gas use and two for the use of compressors.

In Sargodha, three connections were disconnected for illegal gas use.

Published in Dawn, August 2nd, 2024