BAHAWALPUR: City’s sewerage system, which collapsed a fortnight ago, has inundated several city parts, especially Circular Road. The situation aggravated after 26 millimeter rain on Sunday and Monday in the city parts as rainwater and sewage have engulfed Circular Road and nearby streets and roads.

The worst-hit areas include Circular Road in front of the Bahawal Victoria Hospital (BVH), Zanana Hospital Road and Bund Road as air reeks of sewage in these almost no-go areas.

A majority of the residents of Bund Road say the Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) had started work on the new drainage scheme of Rs170 million. PHED Executive Engineer Baqir Gardezi told Dawn that his new scheme had done nothing wrong as the sewerage system on Circular Road was already faulty and the municipality was responsible for the chaos. Additional District Collector Imrana Ajmal, who holds the charge of the administrator of the Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA), told Dawn that the administration of Quaid-i-Azam Medical College (QAMC) and the BVH were responsible for chocked lines. She added that two sullage collection tankers were working to clear portions of Circular Road and pumping sets were also operational to drain out the rain water accumulated in the city.

BVH Medical Superintendent (MS) Dr Muhammad Irshad and Government Civil Hospital MS Dr Aamir Aziz rejected Ms Ajmal’s stance, saying TMA’s own sewerage system had faltered as its sewerage collecting and treatment wells were heavily silted.

BWMC Managing Director Muhammad Naeem told Dawn the clearance of sewage from Circular Road was the duty of city TMA. He said if the underground sewerage lines had failed to work, the whole system should have been re-designed by now to cope with the growing needs of the area people. He said that the sewage of Medical Colony had caused trouble and its way out was only that the TMA installed a new drainage scheme in the area.

Zanana Hospital Road is another low-lying area where rainwater damaged articles in shops.

The collapse of sewerage system and the slow pace of installation of new sewerage lines on Bund Road have affected the efforts of Commissioner Saqib Zafar to beautify the city. The plan included the restoration of the historic Farid Gate and painting the walls fitted with spotlights along with the installation of spotlights around the historic library of Late Nawab.

Rain: The Bahawalpur city and suburbs received rain on Tuesday for the third consecutive day.

With the rain, the situation on city roads and low-lying areas worsened because of the accumulation of rainwater on city roads.

Circular Road in front of the Quaid-i-Azam Medical College (QAMC) and other low-lying parts presented a scene of streams, where traffic remained jam-packed for hours.

TMA employees were seen diverting the rainwater to grounds of the QAMC. The college administration protested over it and feared that the playground would be spoiled with excessive rainwater.

According to reports, some far-off parts of the vast desert of Cholistan received rain late on Monday. Areas around Maujgarh, 40km from the city, Kala Pahar, Thandhi Khoi and other parts received heavy rain with which water ponds were reportedly filled. However, the areas around the crumbling Derawar Fort received thin downpour.

ELECTROCUTED: Fahim, 9, was electrocuted on Tuesday.

Live electricity wires broke from a pole and touched the rainwater accumulated at the crossing on University Road.

His father Ghulam Yaseen is a gardener and lives with his second wife in a school while the deceased along with his brother had been admitted to a seminary.

Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2015

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