Rain puts civic agencies working under question

PESHAWAR: The rain on Wednesday exposed the inefficiency of the civic bodies in the provincial capital when roads and streets got inundated with rainwater, causing problems to motorists, pedestrians and people in general.

The Water and Sanitation Services Peshawar (WSSP) had recently claimed that it had cleared most of the drains in the provincial capital. It had claimed to have cleaned 155.4 kilometre drains ahead of the monsoon rains during a special campaign.

But, the choking of the drains in several areas of the provincial metropolis proved false the tall claims of the sanitation body.

The WSSP workers were busy on the Kohat Road to open a choked drain which was leading to the rainwater overflow on the road. The motorists and pedestrians were finding it difficult to pass through the flooded road near the Civil Colony.

The Chungi Chowk was almost turned into a pond as the government had recently built the drain along the road and had covered its surface which could not be cleaned easily when plastic bags and other garbage block it.

The water was flowing from the drain near Rahman Bab Bridge on the Ring Road as the part of the drain near the bridge had not been constructed. The drain in other parts along the Ring Road was also uncovered where people threw the garbage which had blocked it in several places.

The roads and streets in Nauthia, interior city, and other parts were not in a better condition. The Surey Pull was under rainwater and the Bacha Khan Chowk, too, remained inundated during and after the shower as were several other places in the city.

The motorists faced miserable situations as the automobiles broke down on the inundated roads and intersections. The worst scenes were seen near the Ahmad Faraz Chowk, at the entrance to the Hospital Road in the proximity of the Balahisar Fort.

The road, which is also used by those turning to the nearby Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) for treatment and their attendants, was under rainwater. The road has several private medical clinics and laboratories. Pedestrians were seen wading through the rainwater while shopkeepers were observed struggling to remove rainwater from their shops.

Another major trouble point for the pedestrians and motorists was the service road at Nishtarabad which was totally submerged. Several vehicles and motorcycles broke down on the road and people helped the vehicle owners and bike riders to shift them to safety.

The residents and traders in the vicinity of the Bus Rapid Transit station in Hashtnagri faced difficulties due to the rainwater and were heard cursing the public representatives from the provincial metropolis for not finding a permanent solution to the recurring problem.

A statement issued by TransPeshawar requested the pedestrians to use the overhead bridge as the rainwater was flowing into the BRT station. It said that the company was pumping out the rainwater from the station.