Flood red alert issued in Multan

MULTAN: The city district administration has issued a red alert to all district and town departments fearing high waters in River Chenab and more monsoon rains.
All the departments have been directed to take precautionary measures to protect lives and properties of the area dwellers, officials told The News on Monday. The departments have been asked to complete emergency flood arrangements on urgent basis to deal with any natural calamity.
The recently constructed Head Muhammadwala Road might be breached again if the floodwaters cross the dead level in the coming days, officials said. The civil society activists demanded the government take action against those responsible for faulty design of the bridge.
Joint teams of city district administration and the regional irrigation departments have started preparing lists of flood-prone areas where people are temporarily living in dangerous zones of River Chenab.
“We have fitted in pipes in the road leading to Head Muhammadwala to blast them at the time of emergency,” officials said. The road was repaired and reconstructed in January last, letting the flow of traffic on both sides of the road between Multan and Jhang Road, Muzaffargarh after six months.
The Head Muhammadwala bridge width is just one kilometre while the width of River Chenab is about 10-kilometres. The Head Muhammadwala Road was breached last year in August amid normal flood of 45,000 cusecs of water against the bridge capacity of 100,000 cusecs, disclosed an irrigation official on the condition of anonymity.
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif visited the affected area in September last and promised early construction of the breached portion of the road and removal of faults in Head Muhammadwala bridge design. The irrigation engineers said the breach could have been bridged in only one month, but it took four months to complete the task.
The National Highway Authority sources revealed more than Rs55 million had been spent on road construction in the breached portion of Head Muhammadwala Road. And now this road could be blasted again in the face of any flood situation.