May 28, 2007	Monday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 11, 1428

SIALKOT, May 27: Agricultural lands, houses and cattle in a dozen more villages situated along the working boundary, including Khanu Bhau, Papeen, Saddarpura, Gangwal, Kaliyaal and Ghazipura of Bajwat area are under threat of erosion being caused by the Chenab.

According to reports, residents of the villages under erosion threat have started shifting to safer places to avoid the possible loss.

Agriculture department officials say during the last three years more than 13,000 acres of land have been hit by erosion in the bordering villages, besides several dozen houses belonging mostly to the poor.

The erosion is caused when the river changes its course, devouring the land and cattle alike.

About half a dozen villages in Bajwat area, including sooraj, payeean, surakhpur, salehpur and ghazipur had been totally eroded by the river, while a dozen others were under the threat.

Local people told newsmen that the pace of the erosion was increasing day by day and the water level was continuously rising.

They said the erosion had also washed out graveyards in some of the affected villages where people were at the mercy of the river flow.

The affected people, including councillors Muhammad Shafi and Papa Ghulam Hussain, said most of the local population was totally dependent on the seasonal crops and cattle, which were being badly hit by erosion.

Shafi of Saddarpura village, who has lost a buffalo, two calves and several goats to the erosion, has been left with no means of subsistence.

They deplored that though the villages fell under the constituency of many political heavy weights including the National Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Ameer Hussain, Federal Parliamentary Secretary for Cabinet Division Dr Fardous Ashiq Awan and Punjab Industries Minister Muhammad Ajmal Cheema, no financial compensation had yet been announced for the affected families.

The erosion had also devoured up shrine of Baba Chourang, a saint, in Papeen village, they added.

They urged President Gen Pervaiz Musharraf, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Punjab Chief Minister Pervez Elahi to order urgent steps to provide relief to the affected people and save those whose livelihood was threatened by rapid erosion.

Sialkot-based irrigation department officials refused to comment on the situation.