Accumulation of rainwater still creating problems for pedestrians

Rawalpindi : The people living in low-lying areas are still facing difficulties due to accumulation of rainwater, owing to choked drainage system on the roads.

The areas where rainwater either entered into the houses or accumulated on roads also included Dinna, Pindora, Shamsabad, Dhoke Kala Khan, Dhoke Kashmirian, Sadiqabad, Parhian, Khayaban-e-Sir Syed, Dhoke Najju and Phagwari.

The relevant department is using machinery to remove rainwater from roads and restore drainage system that was choked due to waste material especially polythene bags.

The number of visitors also reduced significantly in the markets and bazaars where rainwater inundated roads and streets. It is often seen that the shopkeepers and visitors instead of using trash cans throw waste material into the drains that get choked especially during the rainfall.

The provincial government issued ‘alert’ to all the relevant departments as the Meteorological Department has declared that water level in Nullah Leh is at ‘pre-alert’ stage due to heavy rain in its catchment areas.

According to the details, the ‘pre-alert’ is issued when water level rises above 8 feet in the Nullah Leh. The water level on Wednesday night in Nullah Leh near New Katarian was 9 feet and 8.3 feet in Gawalmandi. There was some kind of fear among the people living quite close to the Nullah Leh.

An official informed that “The pre-monsoon rains alert was timely issued and we were expecting that water would accumulate in the low-lying areas. So we had placed the heavy machinery in these areas before start of rainspell.”

“The monsoon season will also start in the coming weeks and we are also taking measures to ensure availability of early warning system for safety of the people living in low-lying areas,” he said.