close
Friday March 29, 2024

Rain drowns civic bodies claims again

By our correspondents
August 30, 2016

LAHORE

City’s traffic came to a standstill for several hours as heavy rain inundated the provincial capital here on Monday exposing all the tall claims of civic bodies to clear the stagnant rainwater within hours.

It is pertinent to mention here that majority of water pumps installed by Wasa, City District Government Lahore (CDGL) and Town Administrations were not operative after rain either due to electricity shutdown or unavailability of generators. Lahore DCO, who is the administrative head of Lahore, also failed to ensure timely operations of these water pumps due to which residents of several low-lying localities, including some posh areas remained trapped in stagnant rainwater for several hours.

Worst traffic jams were witnessed on Canal Bank Road, Davis Road, The Mall, Allama Iqbal Road, Habibullah Road, Jail Road, Mozang Chungi, Chauburgi, Multan Road, Samanabad More, Gulshan-e-Ravi, Main Boulevard Gulberg, MM Alam Road, Zarar Shaheed Road. Traffic jams were also seen outside major city hospitals while many ambulances were also seen trapped in traffic mess while their drivers honking the sirens frantically but there was no way.

Following the rain, majority of traffic signals went out of order, which added more miseries to the prevailing situation. Traffic on side roads and inner streets of several localities adjacent to main roads were also seen blocked as many drivers changed their direction from main roads to inside streets in a bid to reach their destinations early.

Zafar Ali Road, Shadman, Gulberg, Icchara, FCC Road, Gaddafi Stadium, Circular Road, Misri Shah, Shadbagh, Tajpura, Wasanpura, Rajgarh, Salamatpura, Kacha Ferozpur Road, Rasool Park, Old Anarkali, New Anarkali, Ravi Road, Egerton Road, Haji Camp, Qila Gujjar Singh, Abbot Road, Queens Road, Bibi Pakdaman, Baja Lines, Mughalpura, Link Shalimar Road, GT Road, Angori Bagh, China Scheme and Shah Jamal were the major localities where rainwater blocked every  kind of movement and remained on roads for several hours.

Met officials said 45mm rain was recorded in city areas while 35mm rain was recorded at airport. Stagnant rainwater also disrupted the travel of hundreds of children at school ending times and parents and van drivers remained trapped outside the schools until the rain stopped.

The Met officials said weak seasonal low lies over North Balochistan while a low pressure area lies over Northwest Rajasthan & adjoining areas. They said a fresh westerly wave was also likely to enter upper parts of the country on Tuesday (evening/night) whereas monsoon currents were penetrating eastern parts of the country.

They predicted mainly hot and dry weather in most parts of the country while rain-thundershowers with gusty winds is expected at isolated places of Islamabad, upper Punjab (Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Lahore, Sargodha divisions), Lower Sindh (Mirpurkhas, Hyderabad, Karachi divisions), Bahawalpur divisions, upper Fata, Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir.

Rain was also recorded in other cities, including Gujranwala (02mm), Mangla (01mm), Parachinar (11mm),  Muzaffarabad (08mm), Kalam (05mm), Skardu and Gupis (01mm each). They said highest maximum temperature was recorded at Turbat where mercury reached 43°C while in Lahore humidity level was 85 percent in morning and maximum temperature was 28°C.

Majority of residents urged Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to visit Lahore during rain and himself see the state of affairs and the claims of improvement by CDGL and Wasa. They said Lahore after rain was the same in 2016 as it was in 2008when Shahbaz Sharif took oath as Punjab Chief Minister.

Zahid, a resident of Malipura, said he remained trapped in rainwater near Railway Station for one and a half hour. He said over one feet water was on road and no Wasa official was seen at the Emergency Monsoon Camp erected by CDGL in Haji Camp Chowk.

Javed Iqbal, a resident of Samanabad said the area was submerged in over one foot water and despite repeated calls to CDGL, Wasa and other departments concerned no one came to pump out water from inside roads and all the machinery remained busy on main roads. He said dozens of cars and motorcycles went out of order and were seen standing on roads due to rainwater.

Amina Yousaf, a resident of Mithai Wala Chowk Chauburji said she was a school teacher and she reached her home back after travelling in rainwater on foot as no rickshaw or van was available due to stagnant rainwater. She said it took her two hours to cover a 15-minute walk only because the CDGL had failed to take appropriate measures to pump out rainwater from the under construction Orange Line track.

The CDGL spokesman claimed that Lahore DCO visited Lakshami Chowk and witnessed pumping out of water and directed all town administrators and Wasa authorities to ensure this in their respective jurisdiction. However, the efficiency of Wasa and CDGL was strongly criticised by the citizens who were trapped in stagnant rainwater.