SIALKOT: Residents of 22 villages of Chaprar have given an SOS call as they have been stranded in floodwaters of the River Tavi for the last 13 days after flashfloods swept away bridges over the river.

No government agency has started work on the bridges which connect 22 Chaprar villages to the city.

Some of the stranded villagers, including Sufi Muhammad Ishaq, Bashir Ahmed, Rana Moon, Muhammad Iqbal, Ghulam Husain, Chaudhry Allah Rakha, Ansar Mehmood, Sakeena Bibi, Rukhsana Mehmood, Rasoolan Bibi and Khadija Farooq, called reporters that they were suffering from epidemics as well as shortage of food and fodder.

They said as most of the residents were suffering from gastro, fever and skin allergies, no medical team had reached them. However, vets had managed to arrive there and administered preventive vaccines to cattle.

They appealed to Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Gujranwala Division Commissioner Shamail Ahmed to take notice of the situation.

District Health Officer Dr Javed Warraich said they were aware of the situation and the Sialkot health department had shifted its main medical relief camp to Salehpur, which would cover Patwal, Salehpur and Suhailpura. He said doctors and paramedics arrived in these villages while traveling on donkey-carts.

Sialkot District Coordination Officer Nadeem Sarwar said 100 teams had started a survey of property and cattle losses in rain and flood-hit areas of the district. Every team consists of a local mosque imam, headmaster of the government high school, patwari and secretary of the union council.

Also, the district administration removed 36 flood relief camps set up in flood-hit areas of Sialkot, Daska, Sambrial and Pasrur tehsils.

The DCO added the camps had been removed after the people had returned to their homes.

Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2014