SAHIWAL: The Public Health Engineering Department (PHED) has reported gross violations of standard operating procedure (SOP) during desilting of a incomplete rural drainage sewerage scheme worth Rs82.4 million at Qaboola Missing Links, Arifwala, where a sewer worker had died after inhaling poisonous gases while two others fell unconscious on Friday afternoon.

Amina Nasir, the sub-divisional officer (SDO) PHED, told Dawn that a criminal case had been registered against M/S Iqbal Builders’ owner Muhammad Iqbal, the contractor, and his brother Muhammad Arshad with the Qaboola Police Station.

The FIR alleges that the contractor had carried out desilting of a choked sewer line without mandatory safety measures, prior intimation, approval or coordination with the PHED and Water and Sewerage Agency (Wasa). Qaboola Police said the nominated accused were already in jail in connection with a corruption case and use of substandard material on the project mentioned above. Police said they would face further investigation in this matter.

In the recent incident, the sewer line had choked. To get rid of the embarrassment, the contractor had deployed three private sanitary workers–Qadir Ahmed (40), Afaaq (31), and Arshad (55)–to clear the choked new sewer line without safety protocols. While doing work, they were trapped in a poisonous gas chamber inside the gutter, resulting in the death of Qadeer while his two colleagues were hospitalised at the District Headquarters Hospital, Pakpattan, in critical condition.

Hospital sources said one worker was still in critical condition on Monday.

An inquiry, a copy seen by Dawn, highlighted four major lapses: the contractor began work without authorisation or intimation, carried out sewer operations on a non-working day

without departmental supervision, and failure to observe mandatory safety protocols.

SDO Amina Nasir said that report recommended formal proceedings must be initiated against M/S Iqbal Builders under relevant rules and regulations.

Mr Imran, EXEN PHED, currently on professional training in Malaysia, told Dawn that a departmental report had been submitted to the managing director in Lahore.

The Qaboola Missing Links sewer line project included laying down sewer line from Faisal Chowk to the main disposal pump with the cost of Rs82.4m. During project implementation, corruption charges were levelled against the contractor by the PHED. Interestingly, the project was completed in 2025 but was never formally handed over to the department, Mr Imran further added.

After the recent incident, the PHED has put all responsibilities to the contractor but the question remained unanswered why the sewerage drainage scheme was not inspected and taken over by the PHED for the last many months. The attempts to take a version of the contractor or its representative were unsuccessful.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2026