MUZAFFARGARH: Over 750,000 people...
..found themselves at the mercy of nature when the administration ordered evacuation of Muzaffargarh town hours before daybreak on Monday as waters from the swollen Indus and Chenab rivers threatened to overwhelm the region. Scenes reminiscent of 1947 started playing themselves out after the announcement threw the populace into an unknown fear.
The announcement from mosques at 4am left speechless 400,000 residents of Muzaffargarh city, and the nearly 350,000 people who had taken refuge here after furious rivers had ripped homes from their foundations in small towns and villages nearby.
Soon the people started leaving for Multan, the only link intact after the closures of roads leading to Layyah and Dera Ghazi Khan.
There were not enough vehicles for such a massive exodus. The Multan-Muzaffargarh road soon clogged with all sorts of conveyances ranging from buses and trucks to horse- and donkey-driven contraptions.
And predictably enough, transporters felt no qualms about cashing in on the helplessness of the multitude.
Long queues of vehicles were seen at CNG stations because the closure of Parco had caused a severe shortage of petrol and diesel.
Saleem Qureshi, who was in charge of a relief camp at Workers Welfare School, said over 8,000 people had taken shelter in the camp over the past two days after waters surged into Kot Addu, Sanwan, Gurmani and Qasba Gujrat.
Around 3,500 people had refused to leave the camp as most of them were penniless by now. Some of them said they would prefer to shelter on roofs, and even trees, rather than risk another displacement.
One distressed person, Ghulam Abbas from Kot Addu, said “we would prefer to die because we simply cannot afford another displacement”.
“When floods hit Kot Addu on Aug 2, we moved to Sanawan. After 24 hours we had to leave that town. Later we moved to Mahmood Kot to our relatives. But on Aug 4, we had to leave Mahmood Kot when a breach in Muzaffargarh canal made us homeless. “We will not move any further.”
Since there were not enough vehicles to carry those willing to leave, some people mustered the courage to get in touch with the Minister of state for Economic Affairs, Hina Rabbani Khar. They suggested to her to arrange a shuttle train between Multan and Muzaffargarh.
Ms Khar obliged them. A shuttle started running between the two points after every two hours. Much to the disappointment of the people who reached Multan, there were no relief camps for them. After some time, however, the army, the district government, PAF and other agencies swung into action and set up shelters.
FLOODS: Irrigation officials said that water level in Chenab river swelled on Monday and floods were likely to hit the city any time.
Because of a flood wave from the Chenab river and breaches in Tulahiry Canal water was heading towards the city after inundating Muradabad, Langar Sari and Basti Bhutta.
Thousands of people had to leave their homes in union councils of Budh, Baseera, Wan Pittafi and Gul Wala aftera breach in the Muzaffargarh canal, near Nusrat Wala, flooded thousands of acres and demolished hundreds of houses.
The Muzaffargarh thermal power plant was also in danger and its staff colony had been evacuated. Experts fear if any harm comes to this plant, the country will face a grave power shortage.
A bridge on the Chenab remained closed for many hours when a large number of vehicles from Muzaffargarh tried to cross it at a time.
In headquarters city areas most banks and ATM machines were closed. Hundred people rushed to banks to draw the money but failed.
This correspondent saw hundreds of families sitting on bypass road near river Chenab. In DHQ hospital hundreds patients ran for safety when they learnt about the flood.
DHQ Medical Superintendent Dr Ashiq Malik said that about 197 patients were there but after red alert one over a hundred ran away and the remaining had been shifted to Nishtar hospital, Multan.
DCO Farasat Iqbal said that district government was trying to save lives and moving affected people to safe places.