GUJRAT: The Municipal Corporation has been facing a daunting task of resolving the sewerage-related issues of various residential and commercial parts of Gujrat city.
The blockade of sewerage lines in various parts of the city is the result of apathy of the successive managements of the civic agency which did not bother to revamp the sewerage system which was last improved between 2005-07.
These views are shared by former and current elected representatives of the local bodies as well as from trade and industry organisations during a dialogue with the senior management of the Gujrat MC.
In a bid to share the anxieties regarding the inundated streets and roads due to sewage, they said city’s sewerage lines were in dire need of being unblocked through winching machines.
Former Gujrat MC chairman Manzoor Hussain Dar, Tariq Sarmad, a former union council nazim, Waheed Mirza, a former vice chairman, and councillors, Usman Padda, president of railway road furniture market, and others reached the Gujrat MC to convey the problems of their respective areas.
These representatives held a detailed discussion with Gujrat MC chief officer Qazi Qamar Zeeshan and other authorities regarding the chronic problem of the inundated streets. It was a consensus among the participants in the dialogue that revamping of the existing skeleton of city’s sewerage system might require a huge amount of funds which would not possible and they agreed on suggesting the cleaning of blocked sewerage lines through winching machines in the entire city.
They proposed that the Gujrat MC should prepare a proper plan to hire the winching machines for cleaning the sewerage lines of the city that according to them would help the civic agency resolve most of the problems whereas desilting of open drains on a regular basis would also minimise the problem of inundated roads and streets in the city.
Earlier, the Gujrat MC had got the main sewerage line between Jail Chowk to Boley Hailsey storm water drain cleaned through winching machines after which the blocked line is said to have started functioning but not at its full capacity due to some dislocated pipes along the line.
Federal Minister for Water Resources Chaudhry Moonis Elahi had recently got approved funds of Rs800 million for launching the schemes to rectify sewerage system of some key areas of city.
Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2021