Water and Sanitation Agency Lahore has illegally converted several storm rain drains into sewage drains creating health hazards and pollution for hundreds of thousands of people and changing master-plan of the metropolis city. In his written reply to a complaint lodged with the Ombudsman Punjab, Director, O&M WASA said that in Lahore 12 open drains are caring the sewage of the city due to non-availability of proper trunked sewerage system.
He admitted that as the population has rapidly increased and mushroom growth of unplanned Abadies the sewerage system has not been updated which is the main cause of the problem. He said that WASA has converted storm rain drain into a sewage drain that passes through the Neelam Block, Chenab Block, Gulshan, Rachna, Umer, Nargis, Nishtar and several other blocks having a population of over 0.3 million people. The rain water drain starts from Neelam Block Wagon stop No 3 and ends at Kharak Multan Road.