Thousands in Bahawalnagar await ‘miracle’

District administration fails to provide relief to people hit by Sutlej flood

BAHAWALNAGAR:

Water of “very high levels" from Sutlej River, which is currently in a “moderate” flood, has started backing up to its banks, severely affecting 148 mauzas and 600 villages in Bahawalnagar district.

The water has entered 90 villages of the district, inundating 40 villages for 20 days and hundreds of families have been evacuated.

Overall, around 165,000 people have been evacuated from Bahawalnagar district’s mauzas and villages.

Almost 153,231 acres of standing crops were washed away by the torrent of floodwater in Bahawalnagar.

Rao Sharaf, the local district rescue officer, told The Express Tribune that 13 camps had been set up in the most vulnerable places.

He added that 71 rescuers with 22 boats were present at these camps 24 hours a day.

The officer said so far, 13,000 people and 3,000 animals had been rescued from the floodwater. He continued that the camps would remain in place until the residents were resettled.

The camps set up by the district administration are limited to paperwork only and completely failed to provide any kind of relief to the flood-hit people.

The people, hungry and thirsty, have taken their families and animals to sit under trees or on high places, waiting for some miracle to happen.

A total of 43 schools are closed in Bahawalnagar district, adversely affecting the studies of over 8,000 students. Along with sorrows, happiness has also been seen at a relief camp.

Read Bahawalnagar bears Sutlej flood’s brunt

The grief of an affected family at Jhullan Arain flood relief camp turned into joy with the birth of a baby boy. The boy was named “Sailaab” (flood) Khan because of the circumstances he was born in.

Other families at the flood relief camp are also happy over the birth of the child. On the birth of his first child, the father distributed sweets.

The water will return to the river, but the biggest challenge from now is the resettlement stage, along with the outbreak of diseases among the people living at the camps.

If not handled in time, these epidemics might become a national problem in the future.

The damage caused by the dangerous flood waves of Sutlej River is because of nature, but the story of the indifference of the district administration taunts the human conscience.

A report issued by the Punjab Provincial Disaster Management Authority on August 26 read that it had provided 222 boats, 3,006 life jackets and 20 ambulances to the seven flood-affected districts, including Bahawalnagar.