GUJRAT: Local authorities on Tuesday removed concrete slabs and other encroachments along the drain at the Old GT Road to improve drainage as several areas remained submerged in floodwater for the seventh consecutive day.

Areas including Jail Chowk, Jinnah Road, Rehman Shaheed Road, Khawajgan Road, Ghareeb Pur, Qamar Sialvi, Ali Pura, Bara Darri, Jalalpur Jattan Road and adjoining localities were still inundated with the floodwater.

Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa) and the local authorities remained busy clearing the affected areas of floodwater as residents feared outbreak of dengue, malaria and other infectious diseases in the city.

Gujrat Assistant Commisioner Bilal Zubair launched the anti-encroachment operation along the Old GT Road with heavy machinery. Officials of the Punjab Enforcement and Regulatory Authority (Pera) started removal of huge concrete slabs that were covering the main drain coming from Shah Hussain locality to allow better water flow. The AC said that the operation to remove hurdles along city’s main drains would cover the area from GTS Chowk to the General Bus Stand and Ramtalai Chowk to improve drainage to the Kalara drain.

Operation will cover several areas to improve waterflow to Kalara drain

The administration also initiated an anti-dengue fumigation campaign in parks and public places of the flood affected areas of the city as well as in rural localities.

Official sources said that some patients with symptoms of dengue and malaria fever had been reportedly examined by the doctors in the city and laboratory tests had been advised to them.

However, officially there were no confirmed dengue patient in the district, but people with skin, throat infections and gastro problem had increased in the flood affected area, said a doctor who examined scores of patients at a medical camp in the city. Meanwhile, Punjab Cheif Minister’s Inspection, Surveillance and Monitoring Directorate Chairperson Baber Allauddin visited the flood affected areas in the city on Tuesday. He expressed his satisfaction on the overall progress made by the administration to tackle the challenges of urban flooding.

Published in Dawn, September 10th, 2025