LAHORE: A delay in resolving the issues related to rainwater drainage, open manholes, non – provision of water supply and seepage leading to creation of sinkholes is costing the public at large heavily during the ongoing monsoon. The situation is worsening fast as the senior officials of Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) are allegedly neither responding to the public phone calls/messages nor deputing any focal person to get such civic issues resolved on time.

On the other hand, an inquiry team probing the recent urban flooding in Lahore has also identified wrong level of roads another reason behind accumulation of rainwater that wreaked havoc on the city, leading to the closure of the Lahore Canal, Dawn has learnt.

“On June 26, heavy rains were not less than a disaster in our locality as the rainwater entered our houses after the Sattukatla drain overflowed due to silting and lack of cleanliness. We registered complaints with the authorities concerned but no one responded. Later, we approached the Wasa top officials through a source but to no avail despite the fact the excavator meant for desilting and keeping the drain clean was available at site. But it was without a driver,” Aziz, a resident of Pine Avenue, said while talking to Dawn.

“We just wanted to have a driver to operate the excavator but no one sent a driver. Next day, the driver came and started cleaning the drain. But before that it had already damaged our houses.”

Sattukatla, Old Anarkali residents complain of delayed response from Wasa

Aziz said if Wasa management had deputed someone to resolve the issue timely, the residents (Pine Avenue) would have averted the damage caused by the drain’s overflow. He added that a couple of days later, another heavy rain spell caused overflow of the Sattukatla drain, but, once again, no-one reached our area despite the fact that we had informed the Wasa top officials.

Talking to Dawn, Faisal, a resident of Kapurthala House (Old Anarkali), said that on Wednesday, the heavy rain caused accumulation of huge amounts of rainwater in his locality, mainly due to the choked sewerage and lack of proper drainage.

“This turned our area into Venice. No Wasa official reached there to ensure timely drainage of rainwater while wastewater also accumulated there. This forced the residents to keep restricted to their houses for several hours. Resultantly, we couldn’t bring something to cook.”

Faisal went on to say that on Friday too, the rain again caused the same issue in his area, leading to overflowing of the manholes.

“Moreover, most manholes in our area are without covers. We also heard that some kids narrowly escaped falling into the manholes full of sewage,” he said, adding that, after two days, Wasa sent someone to cover the manholes when the locals had covered the manholes with wooden brackets on their own.

He appealed to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi, Chief Secretary Zahid Zaman and Lahore Commissioner Muhammad Ali Randhawa to reprimand Wasa officers concerned for not responding to the public complaints.

Complaints were also received from the residents of Gulberg, Johar Town, Faisal Town, Peco Road, northern Lahore localities and some other parts of the city. “Yesterday, a huge sinkhole suddenly appeared on the Peco Road (Township) after the rainwater caused erosion of land. There are also reports that many people narrowly escaped fall into the sinkhole,” said Yasir, a local resident.

He added that some days ago, another sinkhole reappeared on Khayaban-i-Firdausi near Shaukat Khanum Hospital at the same spot where it had appeared a couple of months back.

“Moreover, various sinkholes also appeared in Gulshan-i-Ravi, Mall Road and other parts of the city due to sewerage issues and rainwater,” Yasir maintained.

When contacted, a spokesman for Wasa said he would soon take up such issues with the Wasa managing director.

The inquiry committee conducting a fact-finding probe into the recent urban flooding in Lahore has found faults with the road level as another major reason for the flooding.

“The inquiry team has sought some time to complete the inquiry. Beside roads, the level of greenbelts is also wrong,” a senior official, requesting anonymity, told Dawn on Sunday.

“Had the roads-level been designed as per specifications, the rainwater would have drained out without deployment of dewatering pumps and other machinery/equipment,” he said.

Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2023