August 16, 2008	Saturday	Sha'aban 13, 1429

LAHORE, Aug 15: India has released water in the Sutlej river which will enter Pakistan at Ganda Singhwala on Saturday (today), sending the river in medium flood after 10 years.

The river was given to India under the Indus Basin Water Treaty.

Authorities have been asked to make arrangements for the protection of human life and property in the bed of the dry river.

According to the Flood Forecasting Division (FFD) on Friday, the information about the release of the water in the river was given by the Pakistan commissioner of the Indus water.

As per the information, a discharge of 107,300 cusecs was released at 11.30am on Thursday from Runpar (India). This discharge was expected to reach Ganda Singhwala after 1200 hours (PST) on Aug 16 with a flow of approximately 70,000 to 100,000 cusecs.This water level was medium flood but it could cause damage to human life and property because of the habitation and cultivation in the riverbed in Kasur, Okara (Kanganpur, Baseerpur and Attari) and Bahawalnagar districts.

The FFD has asked the authorities to adopt precautionary measures to avoid any loss of human life and property due to inundation of low lying areas along the river. It said the advisory had been issued in wake of the fact that no significant inflow had been experienced in the river Sutlej for the last 10 years.

Earlier, the FFD reported that the river Indus was in low flood at Kalabagh, Chashma, Guddu and Sukkur. The rivers Chenab and Ravi were also in low flood at Marala and Balloki. The river Kabul was in medium flood at Nowshera. It said the monsoon low over North Rajasthan had become insignificant. But a fresh westerly wave over the Northern areas and the strong monsoon current from Arabian Sea could generate moderate to heavy rain over the NWFP, north Punjab and Kashmir during the next

24 hours.

In Lahore, early morning drizzle kept the weather pleasant throughout the day. The maximum temperature was 30.4 degrees C and the minimum 24.8 degrees C withy 88 per cent humidity in the morning and 71 per cent in the evening.