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SIALKOT, July 14: Rain accompanied with dust storm on Friday paralysed the civic life, inundating all low-lying areas. While knee-deep water in many localities caused a great deal of inconvenience to the people, those who stayed indoors had to brave agonising loadshedding. Also affected by the rain was the telecommunication system, as hundreds of phones went out of order.
Worse still, many roadside trees and hoardings fell on main roads in Sialkot and Narowal districts.
The business community particularly cried out against the public utilities — Gepco, PTCL and the tehsil municipal administration — all of which failed to redress their grievances.
Meanwhile, clouds were hovering over till evening and the meteorological office forecast more downpour in both Sialkot and Narowal districts and in the catchments of the occupied Jammu and Kashmir during the next 24 hours.
PEOPLE STRANDED: A large number of people remained stranded along the banks of the river Tavi where boating could not resume owing to fast flow of water.
All 85 Bajwat villages along the Sialkot working boundary remained cut off from the rest of the district for the third consecutive day. These villages were cut off after the wooden belly-bridge over Tavi collapsed near Saidpur Pattan.
The bridge is the only source connecting the Bajwat villages with the rest of the district.
Meanwhile, the water level in rivers Chenab, Tavi and Tavi Munawar, and in seasonal drains, including Aik, Dek, Palkhu, Bhed, Baeen and Bassanter, soured up owing to the fresh spell of heavy rains.
FARMERS HAPPY: Farmers and paddy growers have welcomed the rains which, they say, are conducive for the paddy crop.
