Evacuation ordered for people near Nullah Leh

RAWALPINDI:

The Rawalpindi administration while declaring rain alert for the city has issued evacuation orders for people living along Nullah Leh and other canals as a four-day monsoon spell has been forecast.

The district administration has also mobilised heavy machinery to speed up work on dredging of Nullah Leh passing through low-lying areas.

A large boat has also been moved to Gawalmandi Bridge to evacuate people in case of flooding caused by the predicted heavy rains. The 111 Brigade of the army has also been put on alert with standby large and small engine boats and life jackets.

After the rain alert was issued, many residents of low-lying areas have moved to safe places along with their valuable including livestock and birds, faring flooding and inundation.

Meanwhile, the city managers have so far demolished 127 slums and makeshift houses in Nadeem Colony and Bangash Colony.

The city administration also said that they fined 21 people for throwing leftover and unused building material in Nullah Leh.

Read Residents along Nullah Leh move to safe places

Officers have also been deployed in both the control rooms to monitor the situation round-the-clock.

The control rooms will issue alerts after every half hour in various areas along major canals.

Meanwhile, off-days of WASA employees had been cancelled till the monsoon spell ends.

Officials said that the Metropolitan Municipal Corporation (MMC) and the Cantonment Boards have begun evacuating residents from 280 dilapidated multi-storey buildings in various areas of the city.

The residents of these buildings are being warned to vacate their houses immediately while orders have also been issued to register cases against those refusing to vacate their abodes. However, not a single building could be evacuated so far by the city administration.

Meanwhile, residents, Haji Ilyas, Shaukat Ali, and Nadir Khan have got stay orders against the administration’s eviction orders, sources said. They have taken the position that since they were repairing their houses; the administration has no reason to issue evacuation notices.

The district administration has also claimed to have cleaned 17 small and big drains across the city ahead of the monsoon rains. An additional amount of Rs30 million has been released for cleaning of linking canals.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 18^th, 2021.