LAHORE: The impact of Tuesday’s heavy rain was not limited to The Mall only as more sinkholes in the city, especially one on Gulshan-i-Ravi main boulevard were noted, Thursday, creating a great deal of inconvenience to the pedestrians and motorists.
As news channels and social media highlighted the Mall Road sinkhole, panicked officials rushed to the main Gulshan-i-Ravi Road near Samanabad Morr and found a sinkhole. They found a similar sinkhole at Gulberg’s Hali Road and there were reports of such depressions in other parts of the city as well.
At Gulshan-i-Ravi, Deputy Commissioner retired Capt Anwarul Haq directed the officials to plug the sinkhole as early as possible to facilitate road users. He also directed wardens to ensure the smooth flow of traffic.
An official source revealed that the sinkhole on the road leading to Gulshan-i-Ravi near Multan Road appeared after the underground 54-inch Wasa’s sewer line collapsed due to rainwater, prompting the Wasa authorities to rush to the spot and rectify the issue.
The source added that the Wasa and LDA officials quickly responded to various complaints about sinkholes on Hali Road, a road near Ichhra and other parts of the city.
Engineers say the emergence of such sinkholes after a rain clearly show negligence on the part of those entrusted with the task of building road infrastructure.
“It’s simple that if there is no proper earth-filling, compaction and asphalt laying works, the road will have such depressions during or after rain. Had all these works been done in accordance with the engineering guidelines, a rain could batter a road at the most,” says a civil engineer.
The fact-finding committee initiated by the caretaker chief minister on Thursday declared that besides the missing PTCL duct, the absence of a retaining wall led to the sinking of a portion of The Mall over the GPO Chowk underground railway station of the Orange Line Metro Train.
The report was presented during a meeting presided over by provincial caretaker transport minister Mian Nauman Kabir, who also ordered fixing of the responsibility for the road sinking and stern action against those found responsible for it.
Chief Secretary Akbar Durrani ordered fixing of the responsibility within three days.
He also ordered completion of the survey of the entire underground track of the Metro train as soon as possible to avert such incident in future.
Durrani directed the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) director general and other departments concerned to implement recommendations of the committee.
