Gujrat’s Urban Flooding: A Crisis Beyond One Administrator
This article is written by Mian Haroon Masood, a political figure based in Gujrat, Pakistan.
We often tend to evaluate a Deputy Commissioner primarily through the lens of cleanliness and civic management. While these are certainly important aspects of administration, they are by no means the only factors that define an effective administrator. An administrator’s role encompasses a much broader range of responsibilities, and these should be assessed within their proper institutional and historical context.
As for the gentle lady in question, she was visibly working around the clock, moving from one place to another and making every possible effort to address the problems at hand. Why, then, do we not examine the matter from its true perspective rather than attributing every civic failure to the present administration?
SEASPARK-2026: Pakistan Navy’s Emerging Multi-Domain Maritime Power
Mahmood Bhatti and YouTube hosts ordered to submit surety bonds of Rs 3 million each
India, Bangladesh Overtake Pakistan in Per Capita Income After 26 Years
For more such Opinions & Blogs, click here.
For nearly the last forty years, our civic infrastructure and urban planning have been systematically neglected. The foremost requirement should have been a comprehensive master plan for the city. Unfortunately, no such coherent and sustainable plan ever materialised. Instead, we witnessed sporadic urbanisation, unregulated expansion, and an influx of migrants who understandably sought to become part of the growing city. Yet, in many cases, this expansion occurred without adequate consideration of the credibility, planning, or civic viability of the housing schemes and parcels of land being developed. Many such settlements lacked proper sewerage, drainage, roads, and other essential municipal facilities from the outset.
We also attempted, rather recklessly, to erase the distinction between urban and rural settlements, often without developing the institutional capacity required to support such a transition. The devolution plan, which was partly founded on this principle, ultimately created additional administrative and infrastructural complications rather than resolving the existing ones.
Perhaps even more damaging has been our persistent interference with natural drainage systems. We have recklessly covered nullahs, altered waterways, constructed causeways and culverts, and obstructed natural channels in an attempt to stop, contain, or redirect the flow of water. Instead of resolving the problem, these interventions have frequently compounded it.
The result is before us: haphazard urban growth, unplanned development, encroachment upon natural waterways, inadequate drainage, and an increasingly dysfunctional civic system. Together, these factors have created chaos and clutter, ultimately giving rise to recurrent urban flooding and deluges that have become increasingly difficult to control.
Suspicious Drones Sighted Over Amritsar Airport, Flight Operations Suspended for 85 Minutes
At Least 5 Killed as Amazon Prime Air Boeing 767 Overruns Runway at Miami International Airport
This is fundamentally our collective problem. We need greater public awareness and, more importantly, the courage to acknowledge and confront the self-inflicted damage we have caused to our own urban environment. I do not absolve myself from this uncomfortable reality either. We are all, in one way or another, part of the society that allowed these problems to develop.
At the same time, we cannot reasonably expect a Deputy Commissioner to turn back the clock and restore the city to its former glory overnight. Nor is it fair to place the entire burden of decades of institutional neglect on the present administration or the Chief Minister, who has, in fact, willingly accorded Gujrat considerable attention and priority.
A Deputy Commissioner cannot possibly be held responsible for a cloudburst that suddenly unleashes torrents of water and sweeps away everything in its path. Nor can an individual administrator undo decades of encroachment, environmental degradation, and poor urban planning within a matter of months.
Consider, for instance, the deliberate disappearance of many of our traditional water-retention areas. We have systematically covered or converted numerous talaabs that once served as natural reservoirs during heavy rainfall. Historically, rainwater would find its way into these water bodies, providing the city with a natural mechanism for absorbing excess water. Even the present Children’s Park is an example of a talaab that was converted into a garden during the tenure of Mr. Iqbal Bosan, who was then serving as Deputy Commissioner. This was not a problem created by the present administration; it is a legacy issue that successive administrations and citizens alike failed to address adequately.
Five-Storey Building Collapses in Delhi’s Satya Niketan; 3 Dead, Several Feared Trapped
Pilot Killed After Small Plane Collides With Police Helicopter During Training Exercise
Defence Day, 06 September: Day of National Pride!
I can cite another example from personal observation. The late Najeeb Cheema, in the presence of the then DCO, Agha Nadeem, had two of the principal openings of a nullah near the Fruit Mandi closed, reportedly because of his business operations in the area. I am a living witness to this episode. The closure subsequently contributed to flooding in the low-lying areas of Fattupura, Trenghi, and Kaloopura. Similar examples can undoubtedly be found in other parts of the city.
Today, we have an institution such as WASA specifically tasked with addressing these enormous challenges. Its leadership has mobilised machinery, manpower, and available resources to undertake what is undoubtedly a formidable task. Yet, despite these efforts, we remain trapped in the same conundrum.
The fundamental problem is that we have systematically disrupted the natural flow of water towards its corresponding rivers, nullahs, and drainage channels. We have interfered with nature’s own drainage architecture and then wondered why the city struggles to cope whenever extraordinary rainfall occurs. The chaos we witness today is therefore not the creation of a single administrator, nor can it be resolved by one individual.
Climate change has now added another and increasingly critical dimension to the problem. Consider what has happened in countries such as Nepal. They are not among the world’s major emitters of greenhouse gases, yet they continue to suffer disproportionately from the consequences of a climate crisis to which the world’s largest carbon-emitting economies have contributed substantially. There must therefore be a fair and judicious international mechanism to help vulnerable countries mitigate and adapt to the consequences of climate change.
Sense and Sensibility Runtime Confirmed
Pakistan Best Team in Women’s Asia Cup”: Coach Wahab Riaz After 55-All Out Show Against India
Defense day reflects Pakistan’s enduring spirit of national unity: PMML
This inevitably brings us to the broader debate surrounding climate responsibility, climate finance, and climate debt. For countries such as Pakistan, which repeatedly find themselves among the world’s worst-affected by floods and extreme weather events, the consequences are not merely environmental; they have profound economic, social, and national-security implications.
CREDIT: AI-generated image.
Therefore, let us be fair in our assessment. Let us not blame an individual for circumstances over which he or she has little or no control. Accountability is essential, but accountability must be directed towards the actual causes of a problem.
We cannot hold the present administration solely responsible for the accumulated consequences of our past mistakes. The responsibility now lies with all of us to acknowledge what went wrong, preserve what remains, restore our natural drainage systems, enforce sensible urban planning, and build a city that is resilient enough to withstand the climatic realities of the future.
The solution is not to find a convenient person to blame. The solution is to understand the problem in its entirety and then have the collective will to fix it.
For more such Opinions & Blogs, click here.
FIR Registered Against Indian MLA’s Uncle for Offering Namaz at Moradabad Circuit House
India and Belgium Sign Major Defence Agreements on Rockets, Ammunition and Military Technology
India Issues 17-Day NOTAM for Major Air Combat Exercises Near Pakistan Border
Indian Northern Army Commander Reviews Operational Readiness in Ladakh
Nina Dobrev’s Venice Red Carpet Moment Goes Viral
IndiGo Airbus A321 Strikes Guidance Pole While Parking at Srinagar Airport
India and Japan to Play T20I to Mark 75 Years of Diplomatic Relations
This article is written by Mian Haroon Masood, a political figure based in Gujrat, Pakistan.
Stay tuned to Baaghi TV for more. Download our app for the latest news, updates & uncensored content!
Further Reads
