PESHAWAR, July 17: The NWFP government is planning to instal its own telemetry system to monitor flood situation and weather forecast in the province, officials said. The provincial government requires more than Rs300 million for the installation of the system. An official said that for the project the province would seek financial assistance from the federal government and other donor agencies.

Sources said that a team of hydrologists from the NWFP would discuss the plan with the federal government and representatives of the United Nations Development Programme in Islamabad on Monday.

These sources said that the provincial government was unable to generate funds for the installation of the latest monitoring system and it was looking for financial assistance from the federal government as well as the UN agency.

In the aftermath of the widespread flood situation in the province, the Hydrology Irrigation Division has suggested to the provincial government to install its own telemetry system to take scientific measure of the water level in various rivers that originated from upper parts of the NWFP.

The federal government has already installed telemetry system that functioned under the command of the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) to check inflow and outflow at dams, barrages and to control water theft.

A senior hydrologist told Dawn that the IRSA’s telemetry system was not enough to meet the requirements of the province so Hydrology Division had proposed its independent telemetry system.

Under the plan the system would be installed in the Hydrology division office in Peshawar with sub-offices in Bannu and Abbottabad.

At present the Hydrology division had installed gauges at 124 different locations across the province to measure inflow and outflow of water in various rivers in the province. Some of the gauges do not function owing to lack of man power.