OKARA, Aug 8: Hundreds of people took out a protest rally against Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA) officials over their failure to effectively run sewerage system in southern part of the city, especially in Samadpura, Ahmadabad, Sirki Mohalla and Bajwa Colony localities.

The southern part of the city has a population of around 200,000 people and many of them demonstrated on Friday morning to protest the TMA’s failure to drain rainwater and run sewerage system properly.

They said that sewers in their area had been choked but none of the TMA officials had visited the area despite repeated calls.

Residents of Samadpura, including Muhammad Farooq, Arif and Ghaffar told Dawn that roads and streets of their area had been submerged by sewerage water since more than a year.

The streets constructed and repaired in this span had also been washed away due to the accumulation of sewerage water.

They said that sewers in Sheikh Basti, Bajwa Colony, Gulshan-i-Fatima and Ahmadabad localities were overflowing constantly but the TMA officials were totally indifferent to their plight.

Similarly, they said, heaps of filth and garbage could be spotted everywhere, particularly on Allama Iqbal Road, but no attention had been paid by the TMA officials to remove the trash.

The TMA staff closed their main office’s gates and did not allow demonstrators to enter it and meet their superiors.

Tehsil Nazim Rao Jamil Akhtar said that city’s main sewerage lines had a capacity to drain out 52 cusec per day but after heavy rains, sewerage load had gone up to 82 cusec per day and the TMA had no sources to drain out this growing load.

He said that a six-feet mini drain was under construction and its completion was likely in next one year only after which the TMA would be able to overcome this problem.