MIANWALI, Aug 2 Engineers of the irrigation department on Monday plugged the breach on the left embankment of the Indus near Jinnah Barrage which was blown up on Thursday night (to save the barrage).

The army and police also helped the irrigation staff in completing the repair task. Two other breaches made on the right side of the river spur were not plugged as a precaution, mainly in the wake of more rain forecast for catchment areas.

The flood water is, meanwhile, receding in inundated areas from Kalabagh to Tiba Mehrban Shah in Piplan tehsil, on both sides of the river.

The local flood control office reported that discharge at Jinnah Barrage was 666,171 cusecs on Monday morning and 554,000 cusecs in the evening. At Chashma Barrage, the discharge was 828,676 cusecs in the morning and 788,958 cusecs in the evening.

The relief activities have also geared up in the district due to repeated visits by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

Talking to Dawn, District Officer Coordination (DOC) Anwar Jalil said 585,000 people out of a 1.3 million population of the district had been badly affected by the flood. He said 153 villages had been badly affected while standing crops on 786,000 acres had been washed away.

Giving details of the relief work, he said six relief camps had been set up in the district at Shahbaz Girls High School, Mianwali, Govt Girls High School, Daudkhel, Girls High School of Kot Chandna, Govt Boys High School, Kamar-Mushani, Govt Degree College for Boys, Isakhel, and Girls High School, Piplan.

Each relief camp is under the control of a deputy secretary level officer deputed specifically from the provincial civil secretariat.

He said the district administration had so far received 37 truckloads of relief goods and distributed 8,000 bags of flour, 10,000 packets of mixed ration, 3,500 packets of sugar, 50,000 mineral water bottles, seven tanks of clean drinking water beside distributing 250 cauldrons of 'pulao' among the affectees.

Noor Ahmad, a flood affectee of Kalabagh, told this correspondent that no relief goods had reached their area. He said local philanthropists Haji Sikandar and Haji Akram had distributed 1,200 flour bags, 1,500 ghee tins and 3,500 packets of milk among the displaced.

Army deployed in the area also continued its activity of rescuing the marooned.

PENALISED Punjab Irrigation Secretary Rabnawaz Khan has transferred Khalid Iqbal, SE Irrigation, Mianwali, and Muhammad Afzal, XEN, Kalabagh division, due to their poor performance.

Our Sialkot correspondent adds Hundreds of acres of farmland was inundated due to breaches in Nallah Aik near Bhopalwala, Sambrial, and in Nallah Dek near village Kingari, Zafarwal, on Monday.

According to irrigation officials, the embankments of the two seasonal storm water channels had been weakened by incessant rains. The situation, according to them, was under control.

Efforts to plug the breaches were on till the filing of this report on Monday evening.

CHENAB The water level started receding in River Chenab at Marala on Monday. The flow by the evening was 124,376 cusecs, which was described as low level flood.

Reports on Sunday had forecast another deluge.

RAHIM YAR KHAN More than 700,000 cusecs water will pass through river Indus at Chachran Sharif on Tuesday, Dallas division SDO Khizar Abbas Bukhari said here on Monday

He said the district administration had finalized arrangements to deal with possible flooding in the riverine belt of the district.

Irrigation and revenue officials visited different areas along the river like Chachran Sharif, Rukanpur, Ehsanpur and Bangla Ichcha.

Khizar Abbas said water level was increasing at Chachran but the situation was under control. He said that work continued for the whole day for strengthening the Minchan Bund at Ehsanpur.