Public grievances: Citizens demonstrate against WASA, thieves

Owners of 2-stroke rickshaws warn of daily protests if ban not lifted.

GUJRANWALA/ MULTAN/ HAROONABAD:

In three protest demonstrations, citizens blocked roads for hours and shouted slogans.

Hundreds of Mohallah Sharifpura residents in Gujranwala protested against WASA authorities for not disposing of sewer water standing in their area for three months.

Talking to The Express Tribune, they said they had lodged several complaints with the Wasa, but no step had been taken to mitigate the problem. They said the stagnant water had restricted people’s movement

in the area.

Wasa Deputy Director Fida Hussain said the disposal of sewer water was hindered by long hours of power loadsheddings. He said Wasa pumps were not working the right number of hours. “That’s why, water has accumulated in low-lying areas,” he said.

In Multan, traders blocked the Timber Market Road over frequent robberies in their area. They raised slogans against the police.

The demonstration was staged after traders Anwar and Irshad were deprived of Rs800,000 at gunpoint.

In Gujranwala, the owners of two-stroke rickshaws warned of daily demonstrations if the ban on two-strike

rickshaws was not lifted.

Auto Rickshaw Association President Zeeshan Butt said there were 1,800 rickshaws in the city and 1,200 of them were two-stroke. He said if they were not consulted on policies affecting two-stroke rickshaws, they would stage daily demonstrations.

Regional Transport Authority Secretary Ahmed Nawaz Gondal said the government had banned twostroke

rickshaws and notified several workshops to convert the two-stroke rickshaws into four-stroke ones. He said the operation was against twostroke rickshaws that had not complied.

In Haroonabad, dozens of people demonstrated against a landlord for beating two brothers and shaving their heads.

They said Shafique and Mohsin had exchanged hot words after the latter was bothered by the former’s dog.

Ten days later, men sent by Mohsin’s father Ghazanfer picked Shafique and his brother Naveed and took

them to their dera where they beat them and shaved their head.

The landlord also lodged a theft case with the police against Shafique, Naveed and their three relatives.