RAHIM YAR KHAN: Hundreds of people blocked the Unilever bridge for hours on Wednesday in protest against the overflowing sewage in eastern residential areas of the city for the last three months.

The residents of Gaddafi Colony, Mastan Shah and Pathanistan localities burnt tyres and chanted slogans against the officials of the municipal corporation (MC) and the district administration.

Leading protesters, local PTI leaders Tahir Khan and Badshah Khan said the streets and roads of their areas were filled with sewage but MC officials did not solve their issue.

They said many times they also met PTI MPA Asif Majeed and MNA Javed Warraich and promised that Rs11 million would be released soon for new sewage lines but to no avail.

They said their protest would continue till the resolution of their problems.

Some protesters said the sewage lines of their area were laid some 40 years ago and could hardly bear the flow of populated areas.

They said the MC employees only operate few lifter pumps at Katcha Sadiqabad Road to drain the sewage water but it was not a proper solution to their problems. Later on, MC employees arrived at the protest site and assured the protesters that they would drain sewage but the protesters continued their protest till evening.

Motorists faced difficulties due to the protest.

Deputy Commissioner Dr Khuram Shehzad told Dawn that all these sewage problems were due to the failure of a mega sewerage project made in 2009-10. He said 70pc of the lines would be cleaned soon and connected with the main mega sewerage line.

MPA Asif said Rs1 million would be released to solve the issue.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2021