KASUR: Panic spread among villagers near Ganda Singh Headworks as the Sutlej reached an “exceptionally very high” flood level on Wednesday.

A 65-year-old villager, Muhammad Bashir, drowned while trying to cross the swollen river to fetch fodder near the village of Sandha Khawan. This is the second such incident in recent days; a youth also drowned in floodwaters near Aiman village.

An embankment also broke near Mandi Usmanwala, submerging four villages Rangaywala, Bodh Singh, Bairi Pir, and Sandha Khawan. At the Ganda Singh Headworks, approximately 72 villages are now submerged, with over 50,000 acres of crops and fodder destroyed.

In response, the district administration, military personnel, Rescue 1122, and police are working to evacuate villagers and their livestock.

The Sutlej turned into a mighty river and was touching the guage of 23 cusecs with a flow of 261,053 cusecs at Ganda Singh Headworks on Wednesday evening.

DPO Essa Khan reported that 600 police officers have been deployed to assist and Rescue 1122 claims to have moved 6,747 villagers and 3,200 animals to safety.

Assistant Commissioner Asfand Yar said 60 per cent of residents from the 34 affected villages have been evacuated, and the rest will be relocated with the help of police and army personnel, using force if necessary.

He added that new relief camps have been established to provide food, fodder, and other facilities for villagers and their animals.

According to district administration, villages including Nagar, Mastaykay, Sahjra, Dhoopsari, Chanda Singh, Gati Kalanger, Bikhiwind, Hakowala, Fathiwala, Kamalpura and Walaywala were isolated by flood water.

Farhan, Muhammad Sadique and Nasurullah Jutt at village Hakowala said that none of the villager was ready to leave the area.

Hakowala village, which is about a couple of kilometers from the Pakistan-India border, is now completely submerged. Residents of the village said they have moved their livestock to higher ground but will not abandon their homes and fields. They claimed that the administration had not satisfied their demands for door-to-door food delivery and expressed a lack of trust in official promises.

“We are happy here and do not want to leave our houses and fields, neither in flood nor in the days of war,” said an elderly woman, Jannat Bibi.

Meanwhile, farmers from Bhikiwind village reported that floodwaters had entered their houses, forcing them to move their animals to relatives’ homes where fodder is hard to find. The district administration has also set up three relief camps at Baloki, but villagers there have complained that the camps are too far from the river to be of help.

Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2025