Pre monsoon rains: Four-day respite from heat likely from Wednesday

LAHORE:

Citizens can expect some respite from the heat starting Wednesday as pre-monsoon rains are expected for at least four days.

The rain, according to the Met Office, will range between moderate and heavy. The humidity will increase but the mercury is likely to come down considerably. The maximum temperature recorded in the city on Monday was 45 C. Rains were not only expected in the entire Punjab but also upper Sindh and the KPK.

Also on Monday, the Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) issued a desilting plan for the 590 tertiary drains, measuring total 413 km between June and September 2013.

A press release said more than 450 workers will carry out the task so as to ensure free flow of rain water in these drains during monsoon season. It is hoped that the exercise will also ensure that small drains in residential and commercial areas of the city do not choke.

The workers will be provided with special health and safety gadgets and customised equipment. The assistant mangers of operations and operations manager will supervise the work. It will be monitored live using android based phones. In urban areas it will go on from 10pm to 6am and in rural union councils during daylight hours. As many as 55 workers have been deployed to clean the drains in the Walled City.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 11^th, 2013.