The water level at Nullah Leh has risen up to 15 feet in Nullah Lai near Rata Pul following heavy rain on Thursday morning. Municipal authorities have called in standby staff to deal with any emergency situation.
EDO Imtaiz Ahmad and District Officer Dr Mazhar Azeem visited the city’s low-lying areas on Friday and inspected the work to reinforce the banks along the nullah.
Pakistan Today has learnt that shoddy dredging of Nullah Leh has left people at the mercy of rainwater and sewage that might burst its banks during the monsoon season,
All of the city’s sewage is discharged into Nullah Leh which more often than not bursts its banks during the monsoon rains if it is not dredged properly. Dredging work on Nullah Leh began in April, while 400 small drains were ignored altogether. The waste dredged out of Nullah Leh has been splattered along its banks, which can again fall into the drain. Although WASA Engineering Director Muhammad Akram Sohbon claims that his organization had done its bit, people living in low-lying areas say widening of some sides of the nullah would be useless and it needs to be dug deeper while both sides of the nullah need cementing. “We have dredged Nullah Leh along a 14-kilometer area from Pirwadahi to Murree Road. Now it is up to the District Executive Officer’s office to complete dredging work on 11 other nullahs and more than 400 drains which fall into Leh,” said Sohbon. A visit to Nullah Leh reveals that it has neither been not properly widened, nor dredged. Unkempt plantation along the banks of Nullah shows that dredging work leaves a lot to be desired. “Bushes and garbage lying along Nullah Leh expose WASA’s claim,” said Muhammad Arshad, a resident Gawalmandi: As per plan, the EDO’s office was tasked with dredging Nullah Leh flowing through various localities including Arya Mohallah, Sadiqabad, Muslim Town, Affandi Colony, Nadeem Colony, and Dhoke Khabba, but the job was not done properly.
The Punjab government has allocated Rs 45 million for desilting and dredging of Nullah Leh and other small drains. Local residents have demanded the Punjab government direct the authorities to complete dredging of nullahs. Talking to Pakistan Today, EDO Imtiaz Malik said that city government was doing its best to clean all drains. “We have been cleaning small drains regularly for the last three months,” he said. On being told that hundreds of small drains in the city had not been cleaned yet, he said sanity workers were doing their best to clean all drains, which was not possible without people’s help. “Every year the government spends million of rupees on dredging nullahs to prevent floods, but to no avail. The government should construct concrete walls on both sides of nullahs instead spending million of rupees on this useless practice,” said Khalid Mahmood, a resident of Nadeem colony.
