BAHAWALPUR, Aug 21: An upward of 30 villages and ‘bastis’ in Bahawalpur tehsil are feared to be affected by the floodwater of Sutlej River between the night of Friday and Saturday.

The Irrigation chief engineer, Bahawalpur zone, Ghulam Husain Qadri, said the peak of floodwater, which could be between 60,000 and 70,000 cusecs, was expected to enter into the river’s jurisdiction of Bahawalpur from parts of Hasilpur tehsil’s Islam Headworks on Friday.

He said this peak would easily pass through the railway’s Empress Bridge near Bahawalpur because the discharge capacity of the bridge was about 400,000 cusecs.

Mr Qadri said since the river bed was silted, such a peak of floodwater would not remain confined to the banks of the river.

The overflowing of water from the left bank of the river could submerge over 30 villages around the Bahawalpur city as a result, he said.

Presently, he said 40,000 cusecs of water was passing through the Islam Headworks, inundating some low-lying areas and villages around Hasilpur tehsil on the left bank and the Vehari district on the right bank of the river. DO (Revenue) Ghazi Amanullah Khan said he feared that standing cotton crop could be damaged by the overflowing of water from the left bank of the river.

He said the Jhangiwala protective embankment had been strengthened and there was no cause of alarm.

However, he said residents of low-lying areas and the people, who grabbed the land in the bed of the abandoned river, had been warned to shift to safer places or relief camps set up by the district administration.

HIGH ALERT: Under the directive of the government, police was on high alert here on Thursday after the twin suicide bomb blasts at Wah Cantonment.