Damaged roads: 20% restoration work likely to be completed by Eid

District coordination officer says food, medicines being supplied to affected areas.

RAJANPUR:

Around 20 per cent restoration of the damaged link roads in Rajanpur district would be done before Eid, provided that rains stop and there is no further flooding from hill torrents, District Coordination Officer Ghazi Amanullah said on Tuesday.

He said though it was unlikely that restoration of land routes in the flood-affected areas of the district would be completed before Eidul Fitr, the district administration would ensure that the work does not stop.

He said the district administration would also continue food and medical supplies to the flood-affected people in the district.

Flash floods have inundated 97,000 acres of crop in Kaha Sultan and Chachar, damaged 11,000 houses, affected at least 50,000 people in 61 villages and affected link roads leading to at least 20 villages.

The DCO said it would take more than a fortnight to restore the road links leading to around 22 of the 61 affected villages.

He praised the chief minister for announcing Rs50 million grant for restoration and rehabilitation of the flood-affected people. All resources would be utilised to facilitate the affected people during Ramazan, the DCO added.

“The Health, Revenue and Livestock Departments have been told to set up relief camps to provide food, medical aid and vaccination to people and livestock,” he said.



He said the district administration had sought help from the army. Two helicopters had already been provided to the district administration to drop food packets in areas where road links had been severed.

He said flood water had also reached villages around Dajal Town, but the area with most dense population was safe. However, he said water from Dajal Canal had entered homes in the Basti Meh and damaged the old Qaziaan graveyard.

More rains can pose a threat of breach in Dajal Canal. The DCO said that efforts were being made to shift villagers from Basti Meh to safer places. He said some people in the affected areas were hesitant to leave their homes.

He said people in Rajanpur’s Pachad area mostly survived on cattle rearing and were the ones mostly affected. He said the region was prone to hill stream floods and the people feared this every year. He said most of the shepherds had left the area as they usually left their homes for settled areas by the end of July or the beginning of August, and returned by September once the threat was over.

Jampur Assistant Commissioner Abdur Rauf Khan has said that pumps and Peter engines would be used to drain water to expedite restoration of roads.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 7^th, 2013.