Minister for Planning & Development inspects dredging, desilting work

Rawalpindi: On the directions of the Punjab Chief Minister, the provincial minister of Planning and Development, Nadeem Kamran on Thursday visited to Rawalpindi to inspect work done on dredging and desilting of Nullah Leh and other measures taken up to avert floods during rains in current Monsoon.

Commissioner of Rawalpindi Division, Talat Gondal gave a detailed briefing to the provincial minister about work done on Nullah Leh including dredging and desilting to avert any kind of disaster like flood in Monsoon.

The heads of all concerned bodies including Wasa, Solid Waste Management, Albayraak, officials of the District Government Rawalpindi were also present on the occasion. The heads of their respective civic bodies also gave a detailed briefing to the minister during his visit to various parts of the city.

Wasa Managing Director Raja Shaukat Mahmood while briefing told the minister that the agency had completed work on dredging and desilting of Nullah Leh from New Katarian to Gawalmandi in the first week of June this year while initiating it in April. About 1.4 million cubic feet garbage and wastage was cleaned from both sides of Leh banks starting from New Katarian to Gawalmandi for which dewatering, jetting and water sucking machines were used. Blockage at Leh channels was removed to ease the flow of water. As a result, no disaster occurred during heavy rains on July 13 which continued for more than two hours. Water level in Leh touched to 18 feet however, it did not cause any devastation in any part of the city.

After getting a detailed briefing from the concerned heads of their related bodies, the minister expressed his satisfaction over the performance of Wasa which averted flood in major parts of the city. The minister directed other heads of the bodies to adopt effective measures to meet emergency like situation during heavy rains.