Mailsi — a place unfit for inhabitation
Mailsi had attained the tehsil status in 1882, much before Vehari and Burewala. When Vehari got the district status in 1976, the Mailsi tehsil had become the part of the Vehari district.
The Khichi, the Bhaba, the Manais, the Pathan, the Arain, the Mitro and some other biradaris have been ruling the Mailsi tehsil since partition in capacity as chairman, administrator and presently as nazim, but no marked change in the tehsil facelift could be witnessed.
In fact, civic problems have gone from bad to worse despite the regular recovery of taxes of all categories by the Tehsil Municipal Administration and other civic bodies.
The poor sanitation, broken roads, overflowing gutters, heaps of garbage, absence of streetlights and impure drinking water are some of the problems faced by people of Mailsi since long.
A number of places are dotted with heaps of garbage and rubbish, posing a threat to the health of residents. Dwellers blame the TMA for the ugly state of affairs as the staff concerned never performs its duties properly.
Garbage lying scattered in open places in residential areas, including Quaid-i-Azam Road, Colony Road, Rehmania Colony, Madina Town, Lal Jahania, Circular Road, Dharampura, Haripura, Vehari Road, Mailsi East, Mailsi West, Fadda Town, Kutchary Road, Karampur, Tibba Sultanpur, Jalla Jeem, Fatehpur, Mitro and Dokota, speak volumes for the TMA efficiency. The TMA has even fallen on its job of specifying points in the town to dump the solid waste.
Expressing dissatisfaction over the town’s hygienic condition, Dr Maqsood Chaudhry said that patients with respiratory problems were alarmingly on the increase.
A TMA’s sanitary employee said that acute shortage of sanitary workers and necessary equipment were the factors contributing to the poor state of hygiene.
He claimed that not a single sanitary worker had been appointed since 1982. Out of a total 150 sanitary workers, he said some 100 were permanent employees and half of them were over the age of 50, not physically fit to perform their duties.
Requesting anonymity, another employee said that most of sanitary workers had been deputed at residences of union council nazims, MNAs, MPAs and bureaucrats.
A group of shopkeepers of Quaid-i-Azam Road said that they were paying Rs20 to Rs30 weekly to the sanitary staff for lifting the garbage.
Similar is the situation in the Railway station area where garbage over acres of land have become a breeding ground for mosquitoes and flies. The authorities seem least interested in solving problems of the area people.
Traders of Karampur area said tehsil nazim Asim Saeed Manais belonged to Tibba Sultanpur and hardly aware of problems faced by the people of Mailsi.
They said that the tehsil nazim visited the TMA office only for a few days in a month, affording the staff concerned, including the chief officer, to remain absent from their offices.
Only 10 per cent populace have an access to the water supplied by the TMA while the rest of them are forced to rely on the sub-soil water which is unfit for human consumption.
Doctors associate surge in gastroenteritis diseases to the frequent use of contaminated dinking water.
The TMA has been receiving frequent complaints regarding the mixing of sewerage with the drinking water on account of cracks in the decades-old rusty pipelines. But the authority concerned has never ever given a serious thought to replace the damaged pipelines.
Tehsil Nazim Asim Saeed Manais said the TMA was spending over Rs20 million for the provision of basic civic facilities, including construction of roads, rehabilitation of the water and sewerage system and installation of water filtration plants in different parts of Mailsi tehsil.