LAHORE: Civic agencies have declared Khayaban-i-Firdausi dangerous because of repeated appearance of sinkholes there, closing around one kilometer-long stretch of the main boulevard of Johar Town.

The closure of one of the three lanes of the busy road is causing traffic congestion, especially during rush hours, resulting in excessive carbon emissions that are adding to the environment pollution in the city, already plagued with smog issue.

“The Lahore Development Authority (LDA), Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) and the Traffic Engineering and Transport Planning Agency (Tepa) have temporarily closed the lane-3 (extremely left fast lane) of the road measuring one kilometer,” an official source told Dawn. “We did it after frequent occurrence of sinkholes left us with no other option, fearing that such sudden road depressions could cause more accidents,” he added.

On September 30, three persons were injured when a car and a motorcycle plunged into a sinkhole on Khayaban-i-Firdausi, caused by a rupture in a decades-old trunk sewer line.

The road has become extremely dangerous, particularly for motorists and motorcyclists, as sinkholes can emerge at any time, putting people’s lives at risk.

In the last October, a big sinkhole had appeared at the same place (in front of the main entrance to the Revenue Cooperative Housing Scheme), injuring three members of a family when their car fell into the depression.

As many as 10 other incidents of appearance of sinkholes have been reported on Khayaban-i-Fridausi in the last three years or so, while as many other similar incidents occurred in other parts of the city, including the Mall Road and Gulshan-i-Ravi.

According to experts, such road depressions occur either due to underground water seepage causing soil erosion, or poor quality of road construction, including inadequate earth-filling and compaction.

They say that sinkholes form when the ground surface is no longer supported by soil and factors like heavy rain, wastewater flow from broken sewer lines, or the weight of fast-moving vehicles weaken the asphalt, causing it to collapse.

“The major problem, which causes frequent sinkholes on this road (Khayaban-i-Fridausi) is over 40 years old trunk underground sewer line which, time to time, ruptures. The issue can only be resolved by replacing this line,” says another official, who held the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) and the Punjab government responsible for not paying attention to this issue. “But there are reports that the Punjab government has approved this scheme by including it in the Annual Development Programme (ADP) for FY 2024-2025.

Meanwhile, many motorists lashed out at the civic agencies for not resolving the issue. “This road has become very dangerous, but the civic agencies seem blind to the issue, as they seem to have no plan to resolve the issue,” deplores a motorist. “We appeal to the chief minister to reprimand the officers concerned for not paying attention to this issue,” he said.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2024