REMEMBER RAIN IN LAHORE AUGUST 2013

REMEBER RAIN IN LAHORE- AUGUST 14, 2013

It started early in the morning. Even flag hoisting went all wet, The day being 14 th of August and Pakistan Day. All streets and roads became flooded with water. By after noon media reported that it had rained up to 70 mm. The local channel was showing different streets and roads flooded up to 4 feet of water. Many people were shown in very distressful state with their houses and belongings submerged while they themselves were standing in waist deep water.

It was natural that these people were all full of resentment against the government and local administration for what was called a total failure to handle the flood like situation in different parts of the city. Also, the electronic media was fully exploiting this situation. The major complaint was that there was no public representative around to manage the situation or to sympathize with the hapless people.

Absence of public representatives was indeed something quite conspicuous. It was quite a blot on the democratic set up. Such conditions especially on a holiday and that too, when it is a rainy day and one cannot step out of home, drive one into contemplation.

Why were the public representatives not around in the rain?

First of all, as public knows very well, public representatives generally belong to aristocracy. They are accustomed to a life of luxury and immaculate conditions. Roaming in rainwater is not their cup of tea.

Secondly, they were elected to make laws and not to manage water courses. Naturally, no one should expect them to manage the water courses, be they small stinky drains of a city slum, or the mighty waters of the Indus.

Thirdly, most of the public representatives, not being well qualified and knowledgeable, are shy of media under such exceptional circumstances which are not of their making, rather, are acts of God. They start feeling guilty for no fault of theirs!

Now let us just pick up a calculator and do some simple calculations and arrive at some interesting results.

It rained about 160 mm throughout over Lahore in one day. Now Lahore is say, a square of about 35 km side. That means 0.16 m x 35000 m x 35000 m = 196000000 cubic meter = 196 million cubic meter of water fell on Lahore in one day. Now one cubic meter water weighs one tonne. The mass of water falling on Lahore in one day is 98 million tonnes. Now who can handle this amount water in a day except God Himself!

Unfortunately, neither the ill qualified public representatives, nor the illiterate public is aware of this simple calculation. The former are feeling guilty and the latter are cursing them for nothing at all.

Now it is my estimate that the discharge of all nullahs and drains of Lahore into the Ravi is about 100 cubic meter per second. This means the time to drain the above calculated quantity of water is about 196000000/ 100 = 1960000 seconds = 22.6 or about 23 days.

Yes, government can buy expensive imported pumps ( with a lot of commission involved ) to drain this water quickly. Then too, it will take not a few hours, instead a few days and that too, after consuming a lot of expensive diesel oil. Is it prudent to spend millions of rupees for an inconvenience of only 23 days out of a year of 365 days. Nevertheless, government is doing this expensive exercise in some politically sensitive areas like Gawalmandi.

Now let us calculate the price this rain water. First, a note about rain water. Rain water is pure distilled water. You can drink as much you like without fear of contracting any disease. Now what is the price of a litre of pure distilled water which is used in science laboratories or that you put in your car battery? At present it is about rupees 20 per litre. There are a thousand litres in a cubic meter. So, the cost of one cubic meter of distilled water is about rupees 20,000. And the total cost of 196 million cubic meter of water is nearly 4 trillion rupees or US Dollar 40 billion. Strange, God showered upon us 40 billion US Dollars in one day! And here we are, begging for a paltry sums of US Dollars from IMF every now and then!

Making some thing worth 40 billion US dollar is not easy. Yes, even for God. “He is busy doing something every day”. ( Quran: Sura 55 ). He works for nine months to build the clouds that shower this elixer of life on us for three months. Now, does not that make you feel guilty when you shave with water tap open? When people complain about flooding, I have an inkling that this might tantamount to ungratefulness.

Now why does this water enter the houses? The ancient city of Lahore is situated on a hillock on the southern bank of the Ravi. Any body living in Gawalmandi knows well that his house is about 4 meter (12 feet) lower than the old city of Lahore and in the event of rain water is bound to enter his house. All the pre-partition houses of the area are build on high plinth because of this very reason. As regards the rest of the city, it is worth remembering that during 1955 flood, water of Ravi came up to GPO on the Mall. At present people who are complaining about flooding are actually living in the river bed! Call it ill planning or over population but, this is how it is. Previously, there used to be bench marks at various localities of Lahore indicating the high flood level with year written on them. These were the grim reminders to the people about the havoc that this otherwise anemic river could wreak about every ten years.

Now what to do with this 40 billion US Dollar gift? Same as that is done with every gift from a loved one or respected One. Keep it carefully and cherish it. What we need in and around Lahore is an elaborate set of well managed water bodies. There must be a water body in every locality that can store rain water in that area at time of rains. During dry season this could act as a play ground (remember the lost Doongi grounds of Samanabad and M.M. Alam road). This water then slowly seeps into the ground to replenish the aquifer. Here, it is in every one's knowledge that water table in Lahore is going down at the alarming rate of 10 feet per year. In the next 5 years Lahore will be facing a major water crisis. Like wise, Punjab on the whole also needs such water bodies and reservoirs to over come impending water shortage. Perhaps it may even mitigate the absence of Kalabagh Dam.

Finally what are the elected public representative supposed to do? Yes, managing flooding of the city is not their job. So, they should not feel ashamed or guilty. Their duty is to make laws and establish institutions that can control the flooding of the cities. It is their job to sit in the August House and over see the functioning of these institutions. It is their job to evaluate inputs given by citizens like my self or in event of their limited knowledge, refer such matters to experts, and then legislate accordingly. .

But oh! I have caught them! Here lies their guilt. They did not legislate to establish the local bodies. It was the local body representatives who would have been managing the the flooding of their cites and towns in the rainy season.

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