Governor Punjab Muhammad Baligh-ur-Rehman visited the riverside area of Mari Qasim Shah and Mochiwala tomonitor the flood situation, here Sunday. Commissioner of Bahawalpur Division Dr Ehtesham Anwar, Deputy Commissioner (DC) Zaheer Anwar Jappa, and officers of relevant departments were also present.
Governor Punjab said that all departments should take precautionary measures to protect the people from floods. He said, “The district administration has been working to avoid floods since the first water flow of Sutlej.” He said that all possible measures should be taken to maintain the strength of 30 levee dams in the region. All government institutions should perform their duties to protect the life and property of the people from floods, he added.
“Divisional and district administrations have made plans to deal with possible floods.” Dr Ehtsham Anwar said, “Rescue and relief camps have been established in the riverside areas.” “People living in the river area are being shifted to safe areas,” he told. He said, “The survey of the livestock and the people living in riverside areas has been completed.” “Around 76,000 people have been shifted from the flood area to safe localities,” Dr Ehtsham Anwar added.
It was worth mentioned here that the Sutlej River surged to “extremely high levels” at Ganda Singh Wala Barrage on Saturday, resulting in the evacuation of hundreds of families from 72 villages in Kasur and Chunian, while three people drowned in floodwater in Kasur while trying to find higher ground.
The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) reported that a high-level flooding situation was underway in the Sutlej River and the situation would depend on water flow at Harike Headworks and Ferozepur Headworks. The water level had risen to 23 feet, with a flow of 269,000 cusecs at the Ganda Singh Wala Barrage. In Sulemanki, there was a moderate level of flooding with a flow of 83,072 cusecs. There is a looming threat of extremely high-level flooding at Head Sulemanki in the next 24 hours. The water flow had reached 30,142 cusecs at Head Islam. The risk of extreme flooding in Head Islam is expected to commence from August 22.
