Monsoon woes: Lack of coordination among city govt agencies creates sanitation mess

No mechanism to ensure clearance of silt, removed from sewers by the WASA, from streets’

LAHORE: Lack of coordination among various city government agencies is preventing drainage of rain water and leading to poor sanitation in several city neighbourhoods.

Zahid Amer, a Township resident, said officials from the Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) had recently left heaps of silt in the street in front of his house after they cleaned sewers and a manhole in the area. He said when the matter was reported to the WASA office, residents were informed that removal of silt from streets was beyond the agency’s mandate. “They said it was the responsibility of the Lahore Solid Waste Management Company (LWMC) to remove solid waste from the streets,” he said.

Amer said the WASA had undertaken the cleaning and drainage operation after several visits by residents to its office to record their complaint. “It took the agency two days to visit the area and clear the choked drain. Still, it left the job incomplete,” he complained.

Amer urged the city government to ensure better communication among its agencies.

Imtiaz Mujtaba Ghauri, a WASA spokesman, said removal of silt deposits from streets and sewers was the responsibility of the LWMC.

He said the WASA’s role was limited to providing water to citizens and keeping main sewer lines running. “Removing de-silted waste of small sewers is beyond the agency’s mandate,” Ghauri said.

He said it was among the standard operating procedures (SOPs) of the WASA to de-silt main sewerage lines before monsoon in coordination with the LWMC. “The authority starts it monsoon operation in mid-July that lasts until the rain season ends,” he said.

However, he said there was no mechanism in the SOPs that required the WASA teams undertaking cleaning of small sewers in neighbourhoods on complaints of residents to coordinate its operation with the LWMC. “Residents should get in touch with the LWMC on their own,” he said.

Jameel Khawar, an LWMC spokesman, said people should contact the LWMC helpline if there were complaints about poor sanitation in their area. He said action would be ensured on their complaint.

Poor sanitation caused by obsolete sewerage

In other areas, residents complain about poor sanitation caused by obsolete sewerage system.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, several Chungi Amer Sidhu residents said poor sewerage system was a major problem in the area. They said the city government had laid a sewerage system in the area in 1997. “However, sewers are too narrow. They get clogged too often and leave the neighbourhood flooded,” they said.

Ahsan Bhatti, a Chungi resident and political activist, said neither the WASA nor the LWMC had cleaned the main sewer line serving the area before monsoon season. He said many areas including Babar Chowk, Al-Mustafa Colony and Hamdani Park, were submerged in sewage up to the knees.

Murtaza Bajwa, a Progressive Youth Front (PYF) representative, said poor sanitation had resulted in outbreak of a number of diseases in Chungi. “Poor sanitation in Chungi is a reflection on the growing class-divide in the city. Such problems are rare in posh localities such as the Defence Housing Authority, Model Town and the Cantonment,”Bajwa said. He said residents of the area planned to start a protest campaign to press the city authorities to provide them basic amenities like running sewers. “Several meetings have been held to form neighbourhood committees in this regard,” he said.

Health concerns

Health Services Director General ZahidPervaiz said like air pollution caused by silt removed from sewers wasa major cause of many allergies, skin diseases and respiratory problems. He suggested that people use masks and cover themselves to minimise the impact of pollution.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 31^st, 2015.