Lahore Walled City (Pakistan) and its water supply and rainage

From ministries to the town planners in all provinces in Pakistan have been holding meetings; taking decisions, creating budgets, and implementation flows down to the relative local offices to bring all drainage water into a very wide cemented drain which would that water out of the area.

This project is/was a part of THE GREATER LAHORE (Pakistan) WATER SUPPLY, SEWERAGE AND DRAINAGE ORDINANCE, 1967.
Project was supposed to take care of the drainage system of the walled city of Lahore for a couple of millions of rupees. Thereafter, as time passed meetings were held at regular intervals and revisions were made to the project with increased budget. In 2009 that project, if taken up now, will cost in billions of rupees. Population has been increasing and with increased usage of water, the drainage system has been overflowing for decades to invite attention of the responsible people.

With the overflow of drainage:
due to increased usage of water by increased population by pushing garbage is into the drains and some drinking water pipe lines ages old are punctured by rust and infected water is makes its way to the taps. Diseases take birth and create health problems for the residents who are perhaps making both ends meet, spend extra over for the treatments.

Seller who have no shops, park their carts and others place buckets on road- side to sell their stuff. Several spots on road sides show overflowed drainage. This doesn’t give a healthy look. Local people are accustomed to it but the outsiders would not interfere with the system.

Visitors to Lahore definitely like to go inside the walled city. In spite of the fact that Guides take them through very smooth, they must not have closed eyes on general CLEANLINESS.

The engineers are competent qualified but why this project had not had a kick-off until now; it could be anybody’s guess.

Garbage is collected from several stray spots and loaded on to an open bullock-cart to take away. This cart rolls very slow and unbearable bad smell is spread in the air. People keep their nose close, hold breath, for long time until that smell dies down. If some time a motor driven small truck is loaded with this filth, it is so much overfilled that shutters keep open and deliver same smell.

my email: sheikhmsarwar@gmail.com