19 more villages near River Sutlej inundated

Around 11,000 people have been shifted to safer places

LAHORE:

Another 19 villages near River Sutlej came under floodwater on Thursday. Earlier, flood water entered 40 villages near Chenab on Wednesday.

Lahore Division Commissioner Muhammad Ali Randhawa, on Thursday, disclosed that 19 villages adjacent to the River Sutlej had been affected by the floodwater besides four villages at Chirag.

Total 18,000 population of these villages had been affected, out of which 11,000 had been shifted to safer places. He highlighted that 11 relief camps had been established by the district administration with a capacity of 5,000 and 3,000 persons and the affected population had been rescued to these places.

Commissioner said floodwater in River Sutlej at Talwar had been reduced by one foot during the past 24 hours. Similarly at Ganda Singhwala, the water level had been reduced by 10,000 cusecs from the previous 0.114 million cusecs.

Lahore division commissioner on Thursday visited post-flood relief camps, along with the Provincial Disaster Director General Imran Qureshi, Sheikhupura Range RPO Babar Sarfraz Alpa and Emergency Rescue 1122 Secretary Dr Rizwan Khan, to inspect the ongoing rescue operation.

They checked the flood situation in various areas and also met with the affected citizens and staff deployed to conduct relief operations. They also reviewed relief activities.

On this occasion, Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Arshad Bhatti, DPO Tariq Aziz Sindhu, Additional Commissioner Lahore Abdul Salam Arif, Additional Deputy Commissioner General Muhammad Jafar Chaudhry and Assistant Commissioner Rizwanul Haq Puri, Rangers officers were also present.

Commissioner inspected the relocation and flood relief camps. He also met the flood affected citizens and visited several areas to assess the flood situation and checked the facilities in the camps set up by various departments.

Speaking to media, Muhammad Ali Randhawa and PDMA DG Imran Qureshi said that the rescue operation is going on to deal with the flood situation in Sutlej River.

Commissioner told media that due to timely rescue and relief operation, no causality was reported so far owing to drowning.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 14^th, 2023.