After India released water into River Sutlej and Alchi Dam, the disaster management authorities of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have issued flood alerts. Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar on Monday chaired a high level meeting to review precautionary measures for the possible flood situation due to discharge of over 200,000 cusec water by India in River Sutlej.
The PDMA Punjab has issued a flood alert due to rising water levels in River Sutlej after India released water into the river. The Pakistan Meteorological Department (Met) has also issued a flood/weather advisory. According to the department, "very heavy to extremely heavy rainfall has been observed over the upper and lower catchments of Rivers Sutlej, Beas and Ravi during the last 72 hours".
Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar on Monday chaired a high level meeting to review precautionary measures for the possible flood situation due to discharge of over 200,000 cusec water by India in river Sutlej. The meeting also discussed rescue and relief operation in case of flood situation on both banks of the river.
The meeting was briefed that India has released water in Sutlej without any prior intimation and around one hundred thousand cusecs flood water is likely to pass through the Ganda Singhwala Headworks on Tuesday. It was informed that 81 relief camps have already been established in flood-prone areas.
Addressing the meeting, the CM directed the concerned authorities to ensure timely evacuation of people from affected areas.
He said people should be shifted to safer places and directed to provide all essential items in the relief camps and there should not be shortage of any item. The CM directed to complete all necessary precautionary measures in Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Lodhran, Vehari, Pakpatan, Okara and Kasur districts to deal with the situation that has arisen after release of water and added that evacuation of population should be ensured from the river-bed and the people should be timely relocated to safer places before the flood torrent. He directed the irrigation and disaster management ministers to monitor the field situation by visiting Kasur, Okara and other districts, adding that the secretary irrigation and DG PDMA should also monitor the relief activities on the spots.