GUJRAT: The local civic authorities have started desilting of open drains of the city to avoid urban flooding as another spell of rain is expected from Jan 18 in Gujrat and 14 other districts of Punjab.

Gujrat had suffered the worst-ever urban flooding in the last spell of rain that continued from Jan 5 till Jan 8 when almost all the streets and roads of the city had been submerged in rainwater.

The Gujrat Municipal Corporation and the district administration had completely failed to cope with the urban flooding in the first week of January as the city’s sewerage and drainage system proved insufficient, says an official of local administration while talking to Dawn. He adds that the civic authorities could only manage to minimise the problems of the citizens through desilting of the open drains of the city with heavy machinery as is being done in the operation currently.

Another official says that most of the sanitary staff is engaged in the cleaning of the drains despite the shortage. He says the city’s sewerage has not been working even up to 50pc of its capacity and the situation is alarming for the residents as well as the administrators.

Amir Basheer Kang, the administrator of Gujrat MC, says Rehman Shaheed Road, Bhimber Road, Court Road, Jinnah Road, GT Road and other main arteries of the city are being cleaned while the open drains along these roads are being cleared of the silt as a precautionary measure to cope with the upcoming rain spell.

Besides, he adds, the work on rehabilitation of the greenbelts in the city areas, including some of the roads mentioned above, has also been launched by the civic agency whereas an anti-encroachment drive is under way to remove the hurdles to the traffic.

As per the alert, DCs of Gujrat, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Mandi Bahauddin, Hafizabad and Narowal, have been directed to take precautionary measures prior to the rain spell.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2022