After several days of delay following the Bhati Gate tragedy in Lahore, the Water and Sanitation Agency (WASA) has finally removed Deputy Managing Director (Engineering) Usman Babar from his position.
According to the 24NewsHD TV channel, Grade-19 officer Zeeshan Bilal has been appointed as the new DMD Engineering, WASA. In another administrative move, Shazal Waqar has been appointed as Director, P&D, WASA.
The changes come amid public outrage over the Bhati Gate incident, in which a pregnant woman and her nine-month-old daughter lost their lives after falling into an open sewer.
Meanwhile, in the same case, a local court has granted interim bail to Traffic Engineering & Transport Planning Agency (TEPA) Project Director Zahid Abbas.
Additional Sessions Judge Ghulam Farid Qureshi, while approving the interim bail, directed the accused to submit surety bonds worth Rs100,000.
The sessions court in Lahore also sought the complete case record from the Bhati Gate police for further proceedings.
The case has drawn widespread attention and renewed questions about civic negligence and accountability in Lahore’s old city areas.
On January 29, 2026, the 24NewsHD TV channel reported that the body of a woman who reportedly fell into a sewer line near Bhati Gate in Lahore has been recovered from Outfall Road, while body of her dughter found near Sagian Pul drain.
DIG Operations Faisal Kamran confirmed that a high-level committee has been formed to investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident. He also stated that three individuals, including the woman’s husband, who had been taken into custody earlier, were later released.
Prior to the recovery of the bodies, rescue sources had expressed doubts about the initial claim. They stated that it was technically unlikely for a person to fall in the specific sewer opening identified in Parinda Market near Data Darbar, where the mother and child were said to have fallen.
According to rescue officials, the site had been previously excavated by the administration, and the area was dark at the time of the incident. Specialized teams from Rescue 1122 and divers reached the location within minutes of receiving the alert.
The Lahore administration also conducted an inspection of the sewer line and reported that there was no evidence suggesting that an accident had occurred at the identified spot.
A high-level committee, headed by the additional chief secretary, was formed on Saturday to find out how conflicting reports about the Bhati Gate tragedy, in which a woman and her 10-month-old baby girl had died after falling into a manhole, reached the media, as claimed by Punjab Information Minister Azma Bukhari.
Sources told the 24News TV channel that the committee would question the officials of the police, Rescue 1122, civil defence, WASA, the district administration and TEPA.
They informed that the seniors of these departments had been asked to direct the officers, who had visited the site of the incident, to appear before the committee so that it could be ascertained how false information about the tragedy reached the media.
On the other hand, Murtaza, the husband of the woman, who had died by falling into a manhole along with her infant, claimed on Saturday that although he was satisfied by the steps ordered by Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, still he had not received any call for the handover of the compensatory amount.
He also narrated to 24News TV channel the torture he suffered at the hands of policemen.
Murtaza told the TV channel that when Rescue 1122 was called to inform it about the incident, the department said the call was fake. “It was on the chief minister’s orders that the body of my daughter was found,” he said, adding that he had two children and he worked at a private mill.
Reporters: Dur-e-Nayab and Shaheen Ateeq