About 50 per cent de-silting of Nullah Leh, which causes devastating floods in the monsoon, has been successfully completed while illegal encroachments have emerged as a major obstacle in the cleaning of 15 large sewage drains in the low-lying areas of the garrison city.
The Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) has made cleaning of nullahs conditional with the complete removal of encroachments by the Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation.
Meanwhile, the funds of Rs120 million were released to the WASA for the cleaning and de-silting of Nullah Leh and other sewage drains.
According to details, the Punjab government has provided a total of Rs120 million to WASA to make the city and cantonment areas completely safe from flood damage ahead of the monsoon.
Sources said WASA has started cleaning from Katarian to Moti Mahal at Nullah Leh by installing eight machines, under which about 50 per cent of the work has been completed so far, while the complete work of increasing the depth of the nullah and removing the obstructions in the flow of water will be completed by the end of June.
On the other hand, the encroachments on the top and sides of the 15 large sewage drains passing through the inner city to the Nullah Leh are becoming a major obstacle in the full implementation of the cleaning strategy.
It should be noted that due to obstructions in the flow of water from these sewers in the inner city, during the monsoon rains, the water from these sewers spills in the low-lying areas, including Chamanzar Colony, Arya Mohalla, Dhok Khaba, Sadiqabad and other areas, causing huge financial losses to the citizens.
In case of the complete elimination of the encroachments on the top and sides of these sewers, water from these sewers could be drained to Nullah Leh within the shortest possible time.
However, for the past several years, illegal encroachments have cropped up on the top and sides of these 15 sewers in the inner city, so much so that the width of these sewers has been shrunk.
The width of these 10 to 15-feet-wide sewers has been reduced to just five to six feet due to encroachments and many multi-storied houses have been constructed on top and the sides of the sewers with the connivance of the relevant institutions, making them a major threat to the low-lying areas of the inner city.
When contacted, WASA’s Deputy Managing Director Salim Ashraf said: “A plan has been prepared with the funds of Rs60 million to clean the sewage drains in the inner city, but the RMC has to eliminate the encroachments first.”
He said it was the RMC’s responsibility to remove the encroachments and the corporation has been formally asked to complete its responsibility.
Ashraf said the de-silting of Nullah Leh was going on at a rapid pace for which heavy machinery was being used and 50 per cent of the work was already completed and the complete de-silting of the nullah will be carried out by the end of the current month.
“WASA has also prepared a plan to extract water from the low-lying areas due to monsoon rains,” he explained. “We will get our team to perform regular rehearsals so that they could carry out water-extraction operations from low-lying areas in the shortest possible time in emergencies,” he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 15th, 2023.
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