Rain leaves trail of destruction in Pindi

Downpour exposes unpreparedness of government departments

RAWALPINDI:

Wednesday’s torrential rain left a trail of destruction in the city and Chaklala and Rawalpindi Cantonment areas.

The heavy downpour exposed the shortcomings and unpreparedness of government departments, life slowly waded back to normal in the swamped garrison city.

In various areas of the city, especially low-lying areas, the local administration failed to remove stagnant rainwater even by Thursday. Citizens complained that hardly any government official was available in the field to offer help and pump out the rainwater.

Meanwhile, the Cantonment boards have formed a five-member committee of citizens and started issuing orders for the demolition of unauthorised buildings.

The Cantonment boards have contracted the Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) to clean sewers and drains by using heavy machinery. A compensation plan for the flood victims has still not been announced. Residents have suffered significant financial losses in Rawalpindi Cantonment and Chaklala Cantonment Board areas.

The sewerage canal that flows through Jan Colony in the Tenj Bhatta area of the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board overflowed owing to rain and entered the nearby houses. Numerous homes were inundated.

One woman drowned and died after a massive wave of water entered Sheikh Tariq's house.

These citizens said that illegal constructions on the banks of drains and the non-cleaning of sewerage drains caused destruction.

Social worker Rizwan Ahmed said that several houses suffered due to a few people's mistakes.

Flood victims in the Cantt localities of Rabbani Town, Ghaziabad, and Dhoke Syedan were seen clearing out their belongings from their homes. Javed Hussain and Zameer Hussain said that the Cantonment Board's complicity destroyed their lifelong accumulation because of illegal constructions along sewage drains and the non-cleaning of sewerage drains.

They said that their furniture, beds, electronic items, utensils and food items were inundated. “We don't even have clean clothes to wear anymore. We have sent the women and children to our close relatives' homes so that we could clean the houses and make them livable again,” Javed said.

Sewerage drains caused havoc in low-lying areas and sewage and rainwater entered people's houses in Dhok Juma. Residents, who were impacted by the flooding, Malik Saeed, Malik Najibullah, Malik Matiullah, and Malik Sanaullah, stated that they had repeatedly urged the Cantonment authorities to clean Dhok Juma sewerage but they did not heed.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 15^th, 2022.