MUZAFFARGARH: Up to 25,000 residents of 69 villages were evacuated from Muzaffargarh’s Indus River areas.

According to the district administration, the water discharge at the Taunsa Barrage was 470,000 cusecs on Thursday, which is consistently rising.

Additional Deputy Commissioner Shah Rukh, who is the focal person regarding flood rescue and relief operations for the areas along the Indus from the Taunsa Barrage to Alipur, said some families refused to leave their places, saying they will brave the flooding but they are not ready to face the humiliation of living in relief camps.

The district administration has set up relief camps in schools and basic health units where most of the welfare department teams are present to help the families. They have vaccinated the people and their cattle.

Kot Addu Assistant Commissioner Muhammed Amir is monitoring the Taunsa Barrage water situation. He said his teams were busy evacuating the people.

The district administration said the rising water level would inundate 69 villages.

Allah Rakha, of Abbaswala, said to this correspondent that evacuation in heavy rains had become a troubling task. He said the families, which were residing in relief stations, had no easy life there as the camps lacked basic facilities, He said their animals had been infected with lumpy skin disease and he could not leave his home because some officials asked him not to come with the diseased animals.

He said he had shifted his family to his relatives in another city, while he could not leave his animals alone.

Besides flooding, people are worried about the erosion of land. The families affected by erosion call it another phase of partition for them.

Mohammed Shehzad, a student of the Bahauddin Zakariya University, said his house and land had been gulped by the river Indus, making them landless and homeless. He is a student of economics at the BZU. He alleged that no facilities were being provided in a relief camp.

The deputy commissioner said the immediate task for his teams was to evacuate the residents and avoid a loss to human life.

Dawn has learnt the spurs and dykes are in a poor condition due to heavy rains.

Officials said the hill torrent flood had raised the water level in the Indus. The DC said the next two days were very critical.

Published in Dawn, August 19th, 2022