GUJRAT: The district administration has proposed a master plan to resolve decades-old sewerage and drainage problems of Gujrat city and sought Rs43 million from the provincial government for the purpose.

Also, the University of Gujrat (UoG) has also been asked by the administration to prepare boards highlighting historical, industrial and political aspects of Gujrat to be displayed along 54 kilometre GT Road in the limits of Gujrat district.

Deputy Commissioner Dr Khurram Shahzad said this in a meeting with a delegation of four Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) MPAs from Gujrat district at district government complex on Monday.

MPAs Saleem Sarwar Jaura, Mian Akhtar Hayat, Chaudhry Arshad and Liaqat Bhadar expressed their reservations regarding the issues relating to their respective constituencies as well as the performance of government departments, particularly health, education and local bodies.

They complained about the apathy of senior officers of departments towards their recommendations as one of them said that instead of accommodating the legitimate demands of the PTI, the administration would only pay heed towards PML-Q leaders.

Assistant commissioners of three tehsils of Gujrat district, chief executive officer of health, deputy director development, chief officer of thee Gujrat Municipal Corporation (MC) and other officers were also present. Some PTI workers were accompanied by lawmakers and they also lodged various complaints against the poor performance of the Gujrat MC for not ensuring the cleanliness of streets and drains besides the shortage of clean drinking water in the city areas.

The DC briefed the meeting about the plans and performance of the administration and said that a comprehensive study had been proposed for the master plan of Gujrat city’s sewerage system through Nespak that demanded Rs43 million for the master plan.

The Punjab government has already been requested to include the funding in the annual development budget of the next year.

He said that the four disposal stations of the city were being repaired and upgraded to cope with the next rainy season as sewerage and drainage system had been a main challenge for the local administration whereas the beautification projects had also been going side by side and the UoG had been requested to assist the administration in various beautification proposals of the district.

PTI lawmakers also demanded the equal representation of their nominees in the various official committees in the district as their nominees had earlier been ignored in the formation of the official committees.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2019