River erosion threatens Jehlum villages

Water level rising near Noorpur Joran Kalan Union Council

KHUSHAB: As many as 25,000 people in Joran Kalan are in grave danger due to erosion along the Jhelum River.

There is a danger of the river flooding and damage to the surrounding area. The neighborhoods of Khushab, Mohalla Syed Maroof, Mohalla Tajpura, Mohalla Prana Sheher, Mohalla Jhook Badshahan, nearby village Thatti, Namiwali, Khairpur and Arikpur are at risk due to the flood in Jhelum River.

The erosion along the river has reached the Union Council of Noorpur Joran Kalan.

On the other hand, the water flow is rising day by day and engulfing the area.

Reportedly, the erosion has reached a few yards from the village but safety arrangements have not yet been made. “There is an urgent need to construct embankments,” said a resident.

Farrukh Baloch, a local, said it was a very old village having union council offices and most of the local people are present in that area.

“Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar should take immediate notice,” said Baloch.

Abdul Rehman, a resident of Khushab, told The Express Tribune that floods in 1992 had wreaked havoc in the area in and around Khushab due to which several villages were severely damaged.

“The water had risen to four to five feet in the areas and people became homeless and several lives were lost,” he said. He maintained that after that, embankments were constructed by the government.

“There is still a risk of severe damage,” said Rehman.

Reportedly, due to the possibility of floods, a mock exercise was organised in the river by the Punjab Emergency Services Rescue 1122 in which, DC Khushab Musarat Jabeen, Additional Deputy Commissioner Revenue Khushab Adeel Haider, CEO Health Wajid Shah, Mazhar Ahmad Subedar Pak Army, DO Social Welfare Imtiaz Mangat, Muhammad Moazzam from Civil Defence, staff of Irrigation Department, Provincial Disaster Management Authority, Health Department, Livestock Department, Population Welfare Department, Agriculture Department, district information officer, Traffic Police, Punjab Police and other agencies participated.

Engineer Hafiz Abdul Rashid said that the preparation of Rescue 1122 Khushab regarding the possible floods has been completed and they would deal with any possible disaster.

“Rescue 1122 is ready and the process of rescuing people from drowning, rescuing people trapped in flood and transporting them to safe places by boat, combating crime cases during flood and shifting injured people after providing timely medical assistance and the life-saving process by swimmers were rehearsed in a mock exercise,” he said.

DC Khushab Musarat Jabeen said that communication and full cooperation between all authorities is urgently needed in the process of rescue during floods so that maximum lives and property can be protected as a result of timely action.

At the end of the mock exercise, the DC along with the participants visited the stall of Rescue 1122 at which modern equipment for dealing with floods was displayed and Engineer Rashid gave a detailed briefing regarding the equipment.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 5^th, 2020.