LAHORE: Residents of Johar Town’s G Block and adjoining areas had to use contaminated water for about six hours or so on Tuesday after Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTCL) construction workers, according to the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa), accidentally damaged the water supply line while laying an underground cable.

A Wasa team from its Johar Town sub-division rushed to the spot after the situation was reported from 6am to 12:30pm.

“It was all due to negligence of the PTCL workers who broke our pipeline resulting into supply of contaminated water. We reached the spot, identified the problem and replaced damaged portions of the pipe with a new one,” Wasa SDO Salman Ahmad told Dawn.

The official said the PTCL had sought permission before laying the cable, but it did not inform the authority before starting digging. He said while fixing the problem the Wasa officials had appealed to the residents to drain out the contaminated water in their tanks.

He said the sewerage problem of G Block would be resolved soon, as their engineers had completed necessary infrastructure work from Khokhar Chowk to Shadaywal Chowk.

“The only work related to boring under the Johar Town Main Boulevard is pending due to absence of certain experts who are currently in Karachi. They will return soon and complete the work within a week or so,” he explained.

Following that, a sewerage pipeline would be passed through this and connected with the main one, he explained. The SDO said Wasa would also get demolished illegal speed-breakers constructed by Johar Town residents to ensure smooth and quick flow and draining of rainwater.

APPROVAL: A design committee of the City District Government of Lahore’s (CDGL) Town Planning Wing on Tuesday approved five building plan cases.

In a meeting presided over by District Coordination Officer Dr Ahmad Javaid Qazi, the participants approved building plans of Jamia Naeemia (Shah Kamal Road), a four-storey building on McLeod Road, an industrial godown on main GT Road, a house in Muslim Town and a three-storey plaza near Jahanzeb Block in Allama Iqbal Town, according to a spokesman.

CASES: CDGL’s District Quality Control Board on Tuesday forwarded cases of 44 medical stores to the drug court for initiating legal proceedings against their owners for selling substandard and expired medicines.

In a meeting, the board members heard owners of 57 stores and issued warning to four. They disposed of four and pended cases of another four stores. They also sought registration of a first information report against owner of a medical store for violating rules despite being issued warnings several times.

ETPB: The administration of the Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB) on Tuesday declared protesting employees were not associated with the board anymore, saying all of them had been unlawfully recruited by the previous management for an 89-day period.

It said since a number of protesters had already entered a litigation, the ETPB would respond to the court and explain its stance there.

It said the management would also take legal action against those posing as its employees, who it added ceased to be their workers for around a year.

DIRECTION: The administration on Tuesday sought cleanliness and plantation at Chauburji Ground, directing officials concerned to complete the task as soon as possible.

The orders were issued after a CDGL team led by the DCO visited the park and expressed its concern over the situation. The team also sought immediate eviction of drug addicts there.