The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has warned widespread devastations in country’s big cities, if obsolete and outdated drainage system is not replaced immediately. Demanding immediate action, the NDMA expressed the fear that if drainage system was not rectified or replaced, the big cities of the country could be inundated. “Immediate measures are imperative to cope with likely flooding by overcoming the problem of overflowing of gutters and drainage system as it has failed to cope with the demands of ever growing population.”
According to a survey conducted by NDMA, the drainage system of Rawalpindi, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Multan, Faisalabad, Quetta, Mardan, Nowshera and other cities has become outdated and obsolete and fail to cater the needs of the growing population. Heaps of garbage, accumulated water, and overflowing gutters could be seen in almost all cities due to ill planning and absence of a proper drainage system.
According to the survey the architects of so-called modern and planned Islamabad city miserably failed to establish a proper drainage system. Just half an hour of rain inundates most parts of the city including the Parliament House and Presidency. Water accumulates in recently constructed flyovers and bridges due to flawed drainage system of the city. According to the survey, the drainage system of Lahore has also become obsolete with just half an hour of rains inundates the entire city.
In Rawalpindi’s Nullah Leh, when water come out of a certain point it reverses to nullah and tributaries causing flooding in the low lying areas of the city.
Same is the position in Peshawar and Lahore, where a small amount of rain inundates the city areas and choked drainage system and gutters. The drainage system of Hyderabad and Sukkur has also become obsolete that could cause flooding in the city.