- Floods devastate Punjab farmlands, ministers distribute aid in Saitpur, Alipur
LAHORE: Senior Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb and Health Minister Khawaja Salman Rafique on Sunday visited flood-affected areas of Saitpur and Alipur on the directives of Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif, distributing tents and relief goods among displaced families.
Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) DG Irfan Ali Kathia said flood intensity is expected to ease in Punjab over the next two days, with water flow at Panjnad recorded at 411,000 cusecs, Ganda Singh Wala at 98,000 cusecs (medium flood), and Head Sidhnai and Sulemanki in low flood.
The ministers assured victims of compensation for their losses, saying damage assessments had begun. “Food, dry rations and tents are being provided on the CM’s orders,” Ms Aurangzeb said, acknowledging that Alipur was “completely submerged.”
Meanwhile, Punjab’s Saaf Pani Authority reported supplying 1.7 million litres of clean drinking water to 577,677 people. Law Minister Malik Sohaib Bherth and Home Secretary Ahmed Javed Qazi also visited Muzaffargarh’s Alipur and Saitpur tehsils.
In Narowal, initial assessments revealed over Rs10 billion losses to farmers as rice and other crops on 140,250 acres were destroyed by floods from the Ravi and local rain drains. The devastation, caused by high-level flooding in the Ravi and rainwater drains Auj, Baein, Basantar and Dek, has crippled the farming-dependent economy of the district, where agriculture sustains over 350,000 acres of cultivable land.
Locals report four to five feet of water standing in farmlands, destroying crops, homes, roads, and rural infrastructure. With no industrial base in the district, residents say livelihoods tied to rice, wheat, vegetables, pulses and fodder have been ruined.
