MUZAFFARGARH: About 400 acres of wheat crop in Sonaki, Doaba and Rangpur areas swept away in medium floods of the River Chenab on Thursday.

The wheat crop was just a week or so away from harvest activity when flooding ruined farmers’ dream yield in dozens of mauzas.

Irrigation Department Executive Engineer Malik Zain said it was a sort of freshet in the river which was 150,000 cusecs in Muzaffargarh on Thursday.

The river will be on flood till Friday and will end up in the Head Punjnad. He said the areas which had been affected were also called river belt areas, so the flood did not hit new areas.

The people of Sonaki and Doaba mauzas alleged that no warning had been issued by the irrigation department about the flood. They said if they knew about freshet why they did not inform the residents.

Farmer Malik Nasir said his mango orchards were also damaged by the unusual flood while half a dozen mud houses were also damaged. In Rangpur areas, the flooding increased their distance from the city areas as there is no bridge to connect Rangpur with other areas.

The government has imposed a ban on boating, the several residents of riverine areas have nowhere to go.

In Doaba, a large number of farmers said they had been ruined by the flood as their wheat crop, which is staple food as well as cash crop for them, was under water. They said it was a big loss for them as they had invested Rs10,000-20,000 per acre.

Malik Amjad said had the irrigation department constructed embankment along the river, hundreds of acres of wheat crop would have been saved.

Many families said they were living indoors due to the lockdown. They said when Prime Minister Imran Khan announced relaxation on farmers’ movement, they were very happy but in the last two days, their crop had totally been destroyed. They demanded a relief package for wheat farmers of the area.

Published in Dawn, April 3rd, 2020