Wheat crop worth millions of rupees has been destroyed due to floods in the district. In Daira Din Panah, Mehmoodkot, thousands of flood victims are currently on the roads as no relief camps have been set up in Kot Addu. Power has not been restored in most villages and the wheat stored in godowns is going to waste. The salvaged wheat crop wheat is now being transported to Layyah.
Rajanpur:
The floods passing through DG Khan, Taunsa, Rajanpur and Rojhan have led to the spread of several diseases in these areas.
Thousands of cases of gastroenteritis are being reported in DG Khan. At present, approximately 400,000 cusecs of water is passing through Rojhan and thousands of houses have collapsed as people continue to seek shelter in camps and on the roads. Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has ordered that an aerial spray be used to help control the spread of disease in the vicinity.
Shehr Sultan:
The entire area of Shehr Sultan has been inundated in the floods. Recently, Mochiwala water levels increased and the local administration opened the gates of a drain head towards the Noor dyke, diverting the Indus River waters towards the Chenab River.
“There seems to be no hope, people are doing what they can to help us but it isn’t enough,” said Shehr Sultan resident Khurram.
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif recently visited the flood-affected areas of Jampur, Rajanpur and Rojhan. He said the provincial government was concentrating on the relief and rehabilitation of flood victims rather than on development projects. He inspected medical camps and tent villages in the flood zones, saying that at this time the Punjab government was focusing on providing basic necessities.
Bhakkar:
Relief goods are being hoarded by the administration, according to locals in the area.
“No official was seen during the distribution of relief goods and several local people received relief goods more than five times,” said Rana Qadir, a flood victim. Thousands of people protested in front of the media at the alleged favouritism by the local administration in the distribution process.
“We travel miles without food to get to the relief camps and we return without food after standing in queues the whole day,” said Abdullah, a flood victim. “Patwari Muhammad Aslam even taunted us, saying that we would not get a single grain of the food,” he added.
According to locals all the relief goods for the flood victims are distributed among people with political affiliations.
They said the distribution process was organised to favour the administration, adding that people queued up for aid but locals received relief goods more than five times per person.
When the people protested they were beaten up by the authorities.
No official has visited the area and locals said that their signatures were taken to put them on the list for donations of tents but they had received nothing. Most of the flood-affected people belong to Behel Nasheb, Notek Nasheb and UC Yousaf Shah.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 23rd, 2010.
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