Rashid Ali, a teenager, part of a mob trying to rob trucks laden with wheat flour sacks, was run over by one of the five trucks.
The mob had already looted four trucks and was heading towards the fifth when the driver accelerated to move away, meanwhile crushing the youngster. Allah Rakhi, resident of Kot Bhwa, was run over in a stampede during goods distribution at a relief camp in Banday Shah near Alipur.
A man, Arshad Ali, got injured as the police started baton charging the crowd. The relief camp was set up by Awaz Foundation, an NGO.
Several aid agencies have decided to temporarily suspend operations in Kot Addu. One such agency, according to the Kot Addu correspondent, has set up food points outside the city and stopped distributing raw food items at the camps to avoid such situations.
Roads joining 7 districts closed
Hundreds of kilometers (km) of roads have been closed for traffic due to floods in seven different districts of the province.
These districts include Mianwali, Muzaffargarh, Rajanpur, Dera Ghazi Khan, Jhang, Rahim Yar Khan and Lodhran. According to the Punjab Highway officials, the roads that are closed include Karamdad, Qureshi Kot Addu, Layyah Road, Muzaffargarh to Rajanpur, Khushab, Mianwali and Multan, Chowk Munda, Indus Highway to Nur Pur Kotli, Jatoi to Karam Dad, Sargodha, Bannu Road, Haji Pur to Meran Pur, Chak number 49 NP to Busti Bhattian and Rajanpur Chak Shaheed to Bhakkar. These roads have been closed to avoid any traffic accident and would be opened once the flood waters recede.
‘Damage to roads comes to Rs3.5b’
More than three thousand km of roads have been damaged owing to the recent floods and the cost of the damages comes to about Rs3.5 billion, Azam Sulaiman, the Communication and Works secretary said in a press conference on Thursday.
The worst affected roads are in Dera Ghazi Khan, he said.
Reconstruction work at the Multan-DG Khan Road, the Kot Addu-Muzaffargarh Road, the Muzaffargarh-Rohailnawali Road, as well as others, has already started.
However, the officials are encountering problems due to the flood waters. Moreover, seven bridges damaged by the floods are alos being repaired.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 20th, 2010.
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