BAHWALNAGAR: As many as 17 people were booked by the Shehar Farid police in Chishtian on Friday for attempting to break a temporary protective dyke in the Kamiraan village which is surrounded by floodwater.

According to the FIR, seven residents of Kamiraan village, along with 10 unknown persons, were breaking the temporary protective dyke around the village with heavy machinery and tractors at 7pm on September 4.

When the locals intervened, they beat them up, fired in the air and threatened to kill them. However, the men fled when a large police contingent arrived at the scene after being informed by the local residents.

It is pertinent to mention here that many temporary protective dykes built by locals at various places in the 160 kilometer-long Sutlej belt in Bahawalnagar have broken. Due to this, thousands of acres of land have been submerged and dozens of villages of Minchinabad, Bahawalnagar and Chishtian have been affected by the river and they have been cut-off from the cities.

On Thursday night, another large protective dyke near the bridge connecting Bahawalnagar and Sahiwal at Bhukan Pattan on Arifwala Road broke, not only flooding several settlements, but also raising concerns that Bahawalnagar will be cut off from other cities.

Youth drowns in floodwater

However, the locals were making every effort to repair the dyke. On the other hand, the district administration issued an alert to the relevant departments expressing fears of extremely high levels of flooding in the Sutlej and also appealed to the public to take precautionary measures.

Meanwhile, a teenager died by drowning in the floodwater in Chishtian on Friday.

Rescue officials said that deceased Shahzad (16) worked at the house of a landlord in the Sial settlement of Jhaiduan mouza. They said that the settlement was surrounded by floodwater on all sides, but most of the residents had not moved to safer places.

According to the officials, Shahzad slipped and drowned in the deep floodwater after leaving the house. He was later pulled out by the locals.

Rescue 1122 shifted the body to Chishtian THQ for legal formalities.

Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2025