SIALKOT-The district administration put all departments on red alert on Tuesday after National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) issued a warning of imminent flood in River Chenab at Head Marala.
The NDMA warning says that there will be high level flood in River Chenab at Head Marala-Sialkot from July 25 to 27.
According to Sialkot Deputy Commissioner Dr Syed Bilal Haider, the departments concerned were monitoring the level of flood in River Chenab and other rivers and naullahs flowing in Sialkot district.
Sialkot Irrigation Department officials told the media that water level was soaring in River Chenab near Sialkot. They added that water level soared up to 74388 cusecs in River Chenab, 3808 cusecs in River Ravi and 1405 cusecs in River Jammu at Head Marala-Sialkot on Tuesday.
They said that 20000 cusecs water was being released in Marala-Ravi-Link (MR Link) Canal (having total water capacity of 22000 cusecs) and 12280 cusecs in Upper Chenab Canal (UCC), having water capacity of 16000 cusecs. “Both of these main canals originate from River Chenab at Head Marala-Sialkot.”
Officials added that water level was continuously soaring in River Chenab due to the ongoing spell of heavy rains in Sialkot region and in all the catchment areas in neighbouring Occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
26 mobile vet hospitals start functioning
As many as 26 mobile veterinary hospitals have been made functional for providing advanced medical facilities to as many as 3.2 million cattle in rural areas of Gujranwala Division here.
According to the officials concerned, the government has given a special target to these mobile veterinary hospitals to visit 52 to 60 villages on a daily basis for necessary vaccination of cattle to save them from fatal diseases during the prevailing rainy and flood season in Gujranwala Division’s all six Sialkot, Narowal, Gujrat, Mandi Bahaud Din, Hafizabad and Gujranwala districts.
Meanwhile, Punjab Livestock Director General Dr Mansur Ahmed Khan visited rural areas in Sialkot district and reviewed the arrangements for vaccination there.
He said that livestock is precious assets to the farmers and the government is making all-out sincere efforts to save cattle from seasonal fatal diseases through timely vaccination.
RAILWAY STATION’S MISERABLE STATE PROTESTED
Locals staged a protest demonstration against the miserable state of Sambrial railway station here on Tuesday. Talking to media, they said that the alleged slackness of the officials of Pakistan Railways (PR) had forced them to lodge their protest. They added that they had repeatedly brought the miserable condition of Sambrial railway station into the notice of PR authorities, but they did nothing to resolve issues of the railway which angered locals as well as traders.
The protesting people chanted slogans against the PR authorities, and they urged Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed, Federal Minister for Pakistan Railways, to take notice of the pathetic situation at Sambrial railway station in larger public interest.
The protesting people including Ansar Mehmood, Bashir Ahmed, Rana Muneer Ahmed, Naeem Ahmed, Muhammad Aslam, Muhammad Umer, Arif Mehmood Sheikh, Abdul Majeed, Naveed Akhtar and Khalid Iqbal said that Sambrial railway station was presenting a very poor, miserable and pathetic situation. The stoppage of several trains have added fuel in its prevailing miseries.
They said that Sambrial railway station was presenting a deserted look. The high trash heaps could be witnessed every where in this railway station with the ponds of dirty sewerage and rainy water in and around this railway station. They added that there was no doubt to say that the deserted Sambrial railway station has become a safer place of the stray cattle, which could also be found grazing there.
The big trash heaps were causing the suffocation by spreading ill smell there, as this bad smell also often engulfs the local markets and bazaars adjacent to this railway station.