DERA GHAZI KHAN: Comprehensive sewerage and water supply schemes were laid down in 2008 in Dera Ghazi Khan city but the lack of regular cleaning of sewage lines in the last six years have damaged some portions of the sewerage lines.

The damaged portions should be repaired or replaced instead of laying down a new sewerage scheme, former chief minister Dost Muhammad Khosa said in a chat with Dawn on Thursday.

Mr Khosa said the comprehensive sewerage and water supply schemes were laid down in 2008 under his supervision. He said the lines needed regular maintenance on a daily basis but in the last five years of the previous government and one year of the present regime, these lines were overlooked which left a telling impact on 15 to 20 percent of them.

On the purposed sewerage scheme for the city, the former chief minister said that local legislators with the collaboration of the district administration were trying to initiate a new scheme worth Rs275 millions to hide their incompetence regarding the maintenance of the scheme which successfully had drain out flood water in 2010 .

He said that in his tenure in 2008, dumpers, mechanical sweepers, waste bins, front loaders and tractors were provided to maintain the cleanliness of the city but at present the the machinery was not functional. He further maintained that manpower was also recruited in 2008 for the maintenance of the sewerage lines but at present they were not working.

He said that he himself called the Chief Minister’s Inspection Team, headed by retired Gen Ziaudin Butt, for the inspection of the scheme and after the checking of the sewerage lines for two weeks, the team had approved the scheme. He said that there was need for allocating funds for the construction of new roads.

ACCIDENT: A couple and their daughter got injured when their car plunged into a ditch near Rakhi Guaj on mountainous DG Khan-Quetta Road, sources told Dawn.

Sattar was on his way to Multan from Balochistan when their vehicle skidded off the road and landed in the ditch. The personnel of the border military police of Rakhi Guaj and Rescue 1122 shifted the injured family to the Ghazi Khan Medical College hospital.

According to doctors, injured people are out of danger.

Published in Dawn, September 13th, 2019