GUJRAT: Hundreds of acres of fertile land of villages along the bank of the Chenab have been flushed away by the river due to consistent erosion. Spurs mainly in Kolowal, Kot Pattu, Nut Pindi Tatar, Samman Mohla and other villages have also been damaged.

According to locals, despite repeated attempts to urge the district government as well as the irrigation department to pay heed to the genuine problem of the area, no official, including the district coordination officer (DCO), had so far visited the site.

They said Spur 4 in Kolowal, which had been built three decades ago, was initially damaged in the floods of September last year and the villagers brought the matter into the notice of the district government officials who did not pay any heed.

This correspondent visited the spurandobservedthatithadbeen washed away up to 1,200 feet leaving only a small portion behind, while Spur 3 at Kot Pattu, Spur 2 at Nut Pindi and Samman Mohla were also damaged. The Kot Ghulam village spur that had been rebuilt three years ago had a fault in its location and designaccording to the villagers whose land was also eroding.

Muhammad Akram, an elderly man whose six acres had already eroded, told Dawn at least 300 acres of rich agricultural land with standing wheat crop had so far been washed away. He said he feared that in case water level in the river rose even slightly the entire village, including the residential area, would be washed away.

He said the villagers had lodged a strong protestinfront ofthe district government office around a week ago and DCO Liaquat Ali Chattha had pledged to visit the site, but so far none of the officials had arrived here.

According to Akram, had the department concerned taken the matter seriously in the beginning and repaired the then partially damaged portion of the spur, there would have been no danger or loss.

But now everyone in his village lived in fear, he added.

Another man present at the banl< of the river, Arshad Ali, said he had removed his water pumping machine from his land located along the bank as half of his land and crops had been washed away and he did not want to put his belongings at further risk.

The residents of the aforemen-tioned villages have urged Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to tal
An official of the irrigation departrnent said they did not have funds to repair the spurs and dykes along the Chenab.