Floods in South Punjab: The Dam That Caused One's Protection and Another's Destruction

Floods in South Punjab

The Dam That Caused One's Protection and Another's Destruction

The place where Imam Bakhsh's house was until some time ago, now he cannot go to this place without a boat.

In Punjab's Rajanpur district, when the flood relay reached his village, the water level was higher than Imam Bakhsh's height.

Many houses were destroyed by the first wave of water. The houses that survived this first wave gradually disappeared into the water over the next few days.

The women and children were taken out of the settlement by the rescue teams, but Imam Bakhsh and a few other men had to wait for a while. Some youths of the village pulled them out of the flooded settlement with the help of drums.

He said if you Drowned then drown in a flood.

According to Imam Bakhsh, in the same way, other landlords and influential people of the area have locked up places to protect themselves. We are poor people, and we cannot afford to tie a band. So whenever there is a flood we get drowned.

They say that they went to the local chieftain with a request that if they made a small crack in the dam, the stagnant flood water would flow out. 
He said why should I crack. If you sink, sink. He chased us away from there.
Imam Bakhsh had to return disappointed. He also requested the Sardar to construct such a dam around his village. 
However, his request was not heard. Now all the hopes of Imam Bakhsh are related to the government. Otherwise, whenever there is a flood, their settlement will be submerged in the same way.
Imam Bakhsh is not alone. In many districts of South Punjab, villages and hamlets are submerged due to such earthen embankments and remain under water for long periods due to a lack of drainage.

"Some mistakes are also people's own."

Kaleemullah in Lindi Saidan believes that one of the reasons for the destruction caused by the flood is that many people had built houses or cultivated crops along the channel.

Standing on the bridge of the canal, he pointed to the crops on the far water path and said, 'Now you can see that these people have grown the walls right in the middle, in the path of the canal. Now their loss is bound to happen.

Kaleemullah says that since there was no flood in the last few years, people thought that there is no danger anymore, there will be no flood this year either. But 40,000 cusecs of water came and washed away everything. If you block the way of the drain, the water will come out here and there.

He says that if his village chief had not built a protective flood dam, his town would have suffered a lot in the recent floods. However, they believe that the solution for permanent relief from threats like floods was for the government to build dams on the mountain passes.

Kaleemullah said that surveys were completed in the pre-partition period to build dams on these passes, but they were not worked on after the creation of Pakistan. They believe that it is easy to build dams naturally on these passes.

Imam Bakhsh believes that either the government should make protective dams for them and other poor people like them or end the trend of private construction of dams. Until that happens, they will continue to fear every year whether they will have a roof over their heads or not.