Lahore : Gowaha residents in trouble as rain floods Rohi Nullah

[Salman]

Heavy rains last weekend caused large sections of the Rohi Nullah to overflow, flooding roads and houses in the areas near Defence’s Bhatta Chowk.


SEWAGE WATER STILL STANDING:

The Rohi Nullah originates from the larger Bambawali-Ravi-Bedian canal on the east side of the city, and travels all the way to Kahna Kacha near Kasur. The portion that runs through Gohawa and the surrounding villages around Bhatta Chowk, however, was evidently not properly fortified to manage the rainfall on Sunday. This resulted in sewage water flooding the roads and even some houses, and the dirty water has remained standing in pools around the Nullah.

The presence of open sewage, if left unattended, will quickly become hazardous and potentially lead to the spread of infection and disease. Some reports cite as many as 600 houses being filled with water, although in the Gohawa village area most of the damage was to the roads and adjacent fields.

IMPASSABLE ROADS:

Residents of the Nayyab sector of Gohawa said that although there has been some trouble with the Nullah in years past, the flooding has never been this bad.

A road that crossed the Nullah, and provided an important point of access to the main road for locals, is no longer standing. The road running adjacent to the Nullah, moreover, has become completely impassable, forcing people to take much longer routes out of the village.

Some people reported instances of pedestrians falling into the water. “Women had to be pulled out with chains, and there were dogs drowning in the sewage,” one eyewitness said.

RESPONSIBLE WHO?

It is unclear why exactly the situation was worse this time, but at least part of the reason is the extensive urban development ventures that have been undertaken in nearby areas over the past year. New housing projects around Allama Iqbal International Airport have increased the amount of waste and sewage the Nullah receives, and with the added rain it simply could not hold any more.

Another problem is the fact that different sections of the Nullah have been contracted out to different companies, which do not always communicate their building and maintenance plans with each other.

The people most affected, moreover, do not know themselves what the companies are or who is responsible for their work.

One such company, according to locals, has been working on covering the Nullah but has not made much progress and does not communicate with the surrounding residents. “They don’t help us, so we help ourselves,” said one shopkeeper, who paid out of his pocket last year to raise the ground around his shop and thus save it from possible water damage.

OFFICIALS VISIT, DEMAND ACTION:

National Assembly Member and Federal Minister of Railways Khawaj Saad Rafiq and Provincial Assembly Member Main Naseer were seen visiting the canal on Monday to survey the damage.

According to local residents who run a scrap shop at the edge of the Nullah, Rafiq told the contractors they had two months to fix the road and finish their project, although the workers maintained that they were not receiving sufficient funds and were running at a loss. Despite this sign of action, many village locals were not confident in the efforts of either the government or the private companies to deal effectively with the problem. “Sometimes they can build entire motorways, but often they won’t get around to covering one simple gutter,” said one resident, who has lived by the Nullah all his life. This particular issue, he said, could probably be handled quickly, but it is impossible to say whether the appropriate action will be taken or not. - See more at: