Better products from primary schools, especially in the low-income areas, would ensure the uplifting of the standards of children who seek admission to colleges. At the same time, the colleges also need to be reformed. Less crowding and better teaching standards could help improve matters considerably. The problem is that many of these drains, which were built for draining rain water from various areas of the city, have now been converted into sewage drains carrying millions of tonnes of sewage and refuse annually for onward discharge into the sea. The composition of the sewage produces gases which are poisonous and can acquire an explosive quality when compressed into an enclosed space.
Compression inevitably results from the construction of buildings over the drains.
There have been instances in the past where toxic emissions from these drains have killed people after leaking out at some points along the route of the drains. In 1993, the Urdu Bazar, which is almost entirely built on a storm-water drain, witnessed a series of explosions caused by inflammable gas, resulting in loss of life and property. Experts say that dangers of this nature will mount unless remedial steps are taken at the earliest. Safety measures must include adequate arrangements for controlled expulsion of the dangerous gases that are produced by the virtual sealing of the sewage drains as a result of construction of buildings over them. The government should take strict notice of these constructions as many of them are illegal - the outcome of the wider problem of encroachments.