Posts Tagged ‘Jhelum’

Neelum-Jhelum to complete soon

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MIRPUR (APP) – Construction work of Muzaffarabad-based 969 MW Neelum-Jhelum Hydroelectric project will be completed soon.
The construction work will be completed with amount of $2.16 billion, the sources said here Monday.
The Neelum-Jhelum project will generate power around 5.15 billion units annually. It would help to meet the shortage…

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Pak-China military cooperation not against other countries: Kayani

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Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani has said Pakistan cooperates with China to end terrorism. He was talking to media on the occasion of Pak-China joint military exercises near Jhelum. He said Pak-China cooperation is not against any other country. Terrorism is a threat for both the countries…

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Pak-China military drill begins

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OUR STAFF REPORTER
MANGLA – The Pak-China joint military exercise, YOUYI-IV-2011, kicked off at Mangla near Jhelum Friday.
The national flags of two states were hoisted during the launching ceremony, which was attended by the senior military officials of Pakistan and China. Speaking as the chief guest, Training…

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Pak-China stage joint military drills

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ISLAMABAD – Pakistan-China joint military exercise YOUYI-IV commenced on Monday near Jhelum.
The joint exercise, spread over a period of two weeks, is aimed at sharing mutual exchange of experience and information through a comprehensive training programme in real time. An official statement says this exercise is fourth in…

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Security forces complete operation in Jhelum

JHELUM: An operation launched in Jhelum against militants responsible for the killings of intelligence officials, came to an end of Sunday, DawnNews reported. Sources told DawnNews that members from the banned militant organisation Lashkar-e-Jhangvi kidnapped five intelligence officials two days ago. Security forces had then launched an operation in the Pir Chumbal area. The intelligence [...]

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Via DAWN.com

Rs2 million disbursed among 53 policemen

LAHORE, Oct 6: An amount of Rs2 million was disbursed among 53 police officials for the arrest of 10 most wanted absconders in different districts of Punjab at a head-money distribution ceremony held at the IG Office here on Thursday. According to a handout, IG Javed Iqbal distributed cash among officials of Lahore, Gujrat, Jhelum, [...]

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Four bogies of Rawal Express derail in Sarai Alamgeer, 30 passengers injured

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At least 30 passengers were injured when four bogies of a train derailed near here in Jhelum on Saturday.
According to police, four bogies of Rawalpindi bound Rawal Express coming from Lahore derailed near Sarai Alamgeer due to unknown reasons.
The police and rescue teams reached the scene of the…

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Low flood expected in Sutlej River on Aug 16-17

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Sutlej River at Ganda Singh Wala is likely to attain low flood level with flood flows ranging between 50,000 to 70,000 cusecs during August 16-17.
According to daily Federal Flood Commission, all main rivers including Indus, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej are flowing normal.
The actual river flows and reservoir…

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IRSA snubs Sindh plea to cut down Punjab water supply

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Indus River System Authority (IRSA) rejected Sindh’s request to suspend water supply to Punjab from Chashma, Jhelum and Taunsa-Panjnad Link Canal.
The Sindh government has protested against the release of 13,000 cusecs water from Tarbela Dam to Punjab for irrigation purposes.
In a letter sent to the authority, it was…

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2 bodies recovered, 10 students injured in Police action in IHK

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In occupied Kashmir, two dead bodies were recovered from Srinagar and Sopore areas.
According to KMS, decomposed unidentified body of a woman was recovered from river Jhelum near Aluchi Bagh in Srinagar. The age of the woman was reported between 26-28. Dead body of one Mohammad Jamal Kumar, missing since…

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9 killed, 20 injured as bus falls into Jhelum River

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Nine people were killed and 20 others sustained injuries while many others went missing when a passenger bus fell into Jhelum River near Azad Patan bridge on Monday.
The passenger bus (DNM-8924) with over 50 passengers on board was on its way from Thorar to Rawalpindi when the driver lost…

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Understanding a tornado

An overturned car rests next to the debris of a home destroyed by tornadoes on April 29, 2011 in Pratt City, Alabama. – Photo by AFP

On March 19, a tornado hit the outskirts of Sialkot. People in Pakistan are familiar with other forms of storms that unleash energy while moving along the earth’s surface. This particular lightning storm was a special type of tornado – more specifically, a twister. In this part of the world, only a few are familiar with the word twister whereas these are quite commonly known in North America. Loss of property and life is often reported on account of twisters and other similar disasters such as whirlwinds, hurricanes, cyclones, ,tornadoes, and such.

Generally, the two words are used interchangeably but now, the synonymic status has been altered because of deeper insight into its forms, size, area affected, terrain, underlying mechanism and its varying intensity.

A tornado (wrongly considered the same as a twister) is a storm covering a wider area and lasts a longer duration. In case it occurs over a smaller area, on a body of water it is known as ‘waterspout’. The same thing on a large body of water, for instance the sea or ocean, is known as a ‘cyclone’ in Asia-Pacific and a ‘hurricane’ in the US. The winds within a severe cyclone gusting around a moving centre on earth or a water surface, may attain a speed of 350 km/hour or even more. On its landfall, it may have a very damaging effect.

The difference between a tornado and a twister has now become more pronounced and it is appropriate to restrict the term twister to tornadoes that have a very strong upward component of whirlwind, having a tendency of lifting, uprooting and hurling objects on ground. Therefore, a ,tornado may become a twister, as soon as it has achieved a ,classifiable destructive ability,. In reality however, a twister is generally supposed to reside in the wobbling axial hyperactivity within a tornado and shows itself up when associated parameters acquire specific criticality. The ,deadliest twister, in history killed 625 and injured more than 2,000 people.

The development of a tornado is ,easily explainable, with the help of wind velocity, pressure gradients and the ,curl vectors, but how it morphs into a twister is a phenomenon that is still under study. A tornado per se is preceded by a lashing windstorm, rain, hailstorm and a thunderstorm. For allowing it to grow into a twister, it has to have an upper layer of icy cold wind with hot air underneath. The two interact, causing an increase in wind velocity, producing curly gusts. This sets in spiraling of air with higher velocity as the hot air converging near the earth’s surface is sucked upwards. ,Latent heat, from icy droplets being pulled downwards mainly under the influence of gravity is pumped in as additional energy to it and the twister becomes more violent.

At times, a hailstorm may also compound the problem. Within minutes, it becomes a monster in its own way. Statistically, very strong storms are only around one per cent of total recorded tornadoes (including twisters). This assessment is dependent upon the areas where damage may be high or relatively less, inducing error in its classification. Thus a twister intensifying and then devastating the sub-urban, non-residential area would have lesser ratings than if it were to strike over an urban residential path.

With the changing weather patterns, Pakistan has started getting its share of twisters. The recent ,tragedy, experienced by the people of Sialkot bears testimony. Historically, there are very few such tornadoes reported in the country before that. In 1981, Gujranwala and Sheikhupura areas were ravaged with 56 deaths and 600 injured. ,Similar calamities, hit in 1985, 1995, 2001 and 2006 in different parts of the country causing loss of life and property. But now twisters are becoming a frequent phenomenon and public awareness in this regard is of paramount importance despite the fact that people often come across dust storms in the plains and lightning storms in hilly areas.

In the present information age, reporting and some elementary steps are being taken, but the need to do better, at a bigger scale and with much more zeal has become an essential requirement. Continuing within existing resources, immediate steps can reduce the damage primarily due to its randomness, suddenness and subsequent ill-preparedness of the rescue units.

Data shows that winters in the country are shortening. This will continue to happen until the normal cooling pattern on earth is restored. That will render northern part of Punjab and western part of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa prone to twisters in the days to come. Critical period of occurrence is likely to be in March and April. Thus, Gilgit, Havelian, Haripur, Taxila, Mardan, Islamabad, Kohat, Mandi Bahauddin, Jhelum, Gujrat, Sialkot and places around Quetta are likely to become more vulnerable. The reason behind this assertion is that there is increased likelihood of having warm air below a suddenly appearing cool layer of moisture-laden air (leading towards formation of a ,super-cell,). So, it will be disservice to the residents of these areas if proper timely information is not passed on to them. In addition, well-documented ,safety precautions, such as moving into safe zones and to avoid injury through electric wires should be made handy through all relevant means.

It is suggested that a home-grown classification of such storms, based on its severity, be worked upon to replace the Fujita method. Pakistan is facing host of problems and the people are paying huge cost for inefficiency and un-professionalism. Not all are to be blamed; there are many who want to contribute. Thus, here is an opportunity for hard-working and honest people to serve the nation through their efforts towards alleviation of the some of the sufferings of the poor through effective disaster management.

The writer is a retired Chief Engineer PTCL and a radio engineer with special interest in ionospheric and tropospheric composition as well as climatology.

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Via DAWN.com

PEMRA raid over 50 cable networks to block illegal channels telecast

PEMRA had time and again warned cable operators to observe the law. -File Photo

ISLAMABAD: Enforcement teams of the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) raided over 50 cable TV networks in various parts of country on Thursday to stop illegal satellite and CD channels shown by cable operators despite repeated warnings to stop them.

A PEMRA press release said that excessive CD channels on cable networks were not only a peril but a main source of content piracy and plagiarism which the PEMRA was taking seriously to address.

Some illegal Indian and other channels namely Sahara, Zee, Tolo, Shamshad, IRIB, WB, TURBO etc. were also off-aired from cable networks in Sindh and Khyber Pukhtunkhawa.

The cable operators faced PEMRA’s wrath included M/s. Digital Cable Jhelum, M/s. Sun Shine Cable, Jhelum, M/s. Fast Link Cable Chakwal, M/s. Foxtel Cable Islamabad, M/s. Star Tel Cable, M/s. Future Tech Cable, Attock, M/s. Sam Cable Islamabad, Hazara Cable, M/s. A.U. Cable Islamabad, M/s. Al-Shahbaz Cable, Islamabad, M/s. New Touch Cable, M/s. S.S. Cable, M/s. New Star Cable, Sargodha.

Similarly in Lahore PEMRA cracked down on M/s. Gulf Cable, M/s. H.N. Cable, M/s. Vision Multimedia, M/s. Max Cable, M/s. BMC Cable, M/s. Super Tech Cable, M/s. Aashiq Cable, M/s. Sehar Cable, and M/s. Zoom Multimedia.

The gadgets of most of these violating cable TV operators were partially and of some completely seized by PEMRA inspection teams. PEMRA also impounded illegal Indian DTH (Sahara, TATA Sky, BIG TV and Dish TV) which were installed by the cable TV operators for the purpose of distributing illegal channels.

PEMRA had time and again warned cable operators to observe the law. Moreover, public notices were also published in print media on this issue mentioning list of eligible channels to be strictly adhered to by all cable TV networks.

It is further stated that large number of public complaints against cable operators for showing proscribed and illegal channels prompted PEMRA to undertake such decisive action.

It may also be recalled that during similar pursuit, PEMRA had managed to shut down about 86 illegal channels on distribution networks.

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Via DAWN.com

Punjab home secretary put on notice

RAWALPINDI, April 27: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday directed the Punjab home secretary to explain under what law a man and his son, convicted by field general court marshal (FGCM), were transferred from district jail Jehlum to Mirpur in Azad Kashmir.

Justice Nasir Saeed Sheikh of the LHC`s Rawalpindi bench told the home secretary to file his response by May 17. The superintendent of Jehlum district jail informed the court that Abdul Karim and his son Khalil Ahmed were sent to AJK on the directive of the Punjab government.

Justice Sheikh asked was there any provision of law allowing the jail authorities to make such transfers.

Citing secretary ministry of defence, judge advocate general JAG GHQ and superintendent jail as respondents the two petitioners through Advocate Col (retired) Anwar Khan Afridi moved the LHC asking for considering their pre-conviction imprisonment as part of their jail term sentence.

“The two men were convicted by FGCM under army act and secret act on March 16, 2007.

Abdul Karim, a resident of Indian-held Kashmir, was given four years rigorous imprisonment of and his son Khalil Ahmed, resident of Mirpur was given 6 years for espionage,” said Advocate Afridi.

“In February this year we moved the LHC`s Rawalpindi bench seeking benefit under section 382-B (period of detention to be considered while awarding sentence of imprisonment) of criminal procedure code. The high court on March 2 this year directed the military authorities to give the two convicts the legal benefits under the CrPC,” the lawyer maintained in the petition.

The authorities did not comply with the court orders and the petitions moved fresh applications seeking the relief.

A legal officer of JAG branch of GHQ appeared in the court on notice on April 15 and stated the trial of the two men was carried out at Mangla and the convicts were sent to district jail Jehlum.

The chief of Jhelum jail informed the court on Wednesday that the men had been shifted to Mirpur on the direction of the Punjab home secretary.

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2,000 cusecs sought from Irsa for Thal Canal Punjab’s request for water release rejected

ISLAMABAD, April 22: Amid a serious water shortage and electricity shortfall exceeding 5,000MW, the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) rejected on Friday a request from Punjab for releasing water into the controversial Greater Thal Canal, but allowed additional discharges from Tarbela dam to improve power generation.

Irsa sources told Dawn that the Punjab government had sought a release of 2,000 cusecs of water to operationalise the first phase of the Greater Thal Canal (GTC) completed recently at an estimated cost of about Rs9 billion. Irsa rejected the request in view of the water shortage and said the canal was meant mainly for the flood season and its formal opening could be considered only when water situation improved.

The total cost of the GTC is estimated at Rs31 billion and it is to benefit Khushab, Bhakkar, Layyah and Jhang districts of Punjab. The first phase of the canal has been completed with a total cost of Rs9 billion.

The Sindh government has been opposed to the operationalisation of GTC, saying the canal was a flood canal and could not be used as a regular canal. It has also been opposed to treatment of Chashma-Jhelum canal as a perennial canal.

The sources said that Irsa had also allowed withdrawal of 5,000 cusecs of additional water from Tarbela dam, over and above irrigation requirements of the provincial government, to help Wapda increase its generation capacity. Wapda companies are facing an electricity shortfall of more than 5,000MW and the additional water discharges would help increase hydropower generation by about 500MW.

Under the decision, withdrawals from Tarbela dam had been increased to 20,000 cusecs instead of provincial irrigation requirements of about 15,000 cusecs. Officials said that additional releases from Tarbela dam would be stored in the Chashma barrage where sufficient storage capacity was currently available for later releases and adjustments against provincial shares.

Irsa also increased Sindh’s releases from 45,000 cusecs to 50,000 cusecs for crop requirements while Punjab’s indent was increased from 64,000 cusecs to 69,000 cusecs on Friday. To meet increased provincial requirements, Irsa also increased outflows from Mangla dam to 50,000 cusecs from 40,000 cusecs a day earlier while Sindh’s share through Panjnad had also been increased to 10,000 cusecs for the next 10 days from 8,000 cusecs earlier.

The sources said Irsa had also written a letter to Punjab and Sindh governments to be very cautious in their calculations and be considerate in seeking their irrigation shares in view of unstable water flows in rivers so that available water in dams could be utilised judiciously and carefully as required by shortages.

They said that temperatures in catchment areas had become unpredictable dropping again to 14 degree Celsius in Skardu after rising to 20 degrees a couple of days ago and, as a result, river flows had considerably dropped and were expected to remain so over the next two to three weeks.

The inflows in the river Indus at Tarbela stood at 29,700 cusecs on Friday against its outflows of 20,000 cusecs because its storage level was recorded at 1394.32 feet against its dead level of 1,378 feet.

The inflows in the river Jhelum at Mangla dam stood at 56,550 cusecs on Friday against outflows of 50,000 cusecs. Its water level was recorded at 1,113.5 feet against its dead level of 1,040 feet.

The flows in river Kabul were recorded at 30,400 cusecs on Friday while flows in Chenab stood at 25,000 cusecs. As such, total inflows at rim stations remained 141,717 cusecs on Friday against outflow of 115,467 cusecs.

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Via DAWN.com

Power shortfall increases to over 5,000MW

LAHORE, April 22: The electricity shortfall shot up by 50 per cent of the demand on Friday, keeping half of the country without power and forcing Pepco to carry out up to 16 hours of loadshedding.

According to the Pakistan Electric Power Company, it faces a shortfall of 5,010MW, with the demand at 14,475MW. Pepco officials said that a reduction in supply of furnace oil and gas, shortage of funds to buy oil and reduced water releases from two major dams were the main factors leading to this “disastrous situation”.

They admitted that Pepco’s own thermal units were not working properly; half of them were on forced outage because of lack of proper maintenance and the rest were not getting oil.

“Three main thermal units — Jamshoro, Muzaffargarh and Guddu — are partially on forced outages, leaving a shortage of about 900MW. The 700MW Jamshoro unit is on 180MW forced outrage. Of the 1,130MW GTPS Muzaffargarh, machines generating 300MW are out of order. At the 1,155MW Guddu power plant, units for 400MW are lying idle,” a Pepco official said.

He said that none of the plants got any gas supply, affecting the performance of other units as well. “That is why out of the total capacity of about 3,500MW, the company’s own thermal units could produce only 1,396MW on Friday.”

He said the Faisalabad Combined Cycle Unit (210MW) was completely shut because it neither had gas nor money to purchase diesel.

The non-supply of gas hit three other plants — Sapphire Electric Power (225MW), Saif Power Project (209MW) and Orient Power Project (212MW). They are producing only 495MW.

The fuel crisis has completely shut down Japan Power (135MW) and Saba Power (134MW).

On Friday, Pepco received only 11,000 tons of furnace oil against the total requirement of 36,000 tons. The reduced supply, another Pepco official said, had played havoc with the company’s generation plan.

“Pakistan State Oil cannot be faulted much for reduced oil supplies because Pepco is neither paying nor giving any hope to PSO which has to pay advance to foreign sellers. The huge PSO receivables against Pepco and IPPs (independent power produces) are a fact of the power sector. Pepco has no money, gas, oil and water to generate power,” he added.

The National Power Control Centre (NPCC), which is supposed to balance demand and supply, is also resorting to massive unscheduled loadshedding because it can supply only as much power as it receives.

The official said the NPCC had carried out unplanned loadshedding of 2,000MW ‘over the past 24 hours’. Total shortfall stood at 7,000MW and demand at 14,000MW.

The situation, he said, would worsen over the next few days because weather was getting hotter. “Once air conditioners are switched on throughout the country, which Pepco is expecting in a week’s time, it will add about 5,000MW to the demand, and things can go haywire then,” he feared.

APP adds: Water and Power Minister Syed Naveed Qamar said on Friday that the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) had been asked to prepare a plan for construction of 32 small and medium dams across the country in two phases.

During the question-hour in the National Assembly, he said that 12 small and medium dams would be built in the first phase.

Two reservoirs will be built in Sindh, five in Balochistan, three in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata and two in Punjab. According to the schedule, Mr Qamar said, the dams would be completed by 2014, depending “on availability of funds”.

He said that 20 dams would be constructed in the second phase.

Answering a question, the minister said India had so far built 43 hydroelectric projects on “our western rivers of Indus, Jhelum and Chenab”.

Thirteen of these projects were built before the signing of the Indus Water Treaty in 1960 and about 30 after it.

“Only eight of the 30 can be categorised as major projects and the rest are mini and micro-hydroelectric projects having no downstream effects,” the minister added. He said India was continuously constructing power projects on “our western rivers at an average rate of one project in two years”.

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Via DAWN.com

Water in Tarbela touches dead level

This aerial view shows water leaving the Tarbela Dam spillway in Tarbela on August 24, 2010. AFP Photo

ISLAMABAD: The water level in Tarbela Dam touched the dead level of 1378 feet on Saturday.

According to data released by the Indus River System Authority (Irsa), the maximum water level in River Indus at Tarbela was 1378 feet, while inflow and outflow in the dam was recorded same as 26900 cusecs.

The water level at River Jhelum at Mangla was 1092.90 feet, which is 52.90 feet above its dead level of 1040 feet, whereas the inflow and outflow of water in the dam was recorded as 50,956 and 42,000 cusecs respectively.

Irsa released 120,507 cusecs water from various rim stations while the inflow remained as 129463 cusecs.

The release of water at Kalabagh, Taunsa and Sukkur was recorded as 29,403, 28,015, and 41,300 cusecs respectively.

Similarly, from River Kabul a total of 28,600 cusecs of water was released at Nowshera and 23,007 cusecs released from River Chenab at Marala.

Due to low inflow of water in dams, hydel generation has been reduced considerably, deepening the power crisis. The Pakistan Electric Supply Company (Pepco) has been forced to observe up to eight hours of load-shedding in the country.

Pepco’s daily report showed a shortfall of 3,935 MW on Saturday. The reports puts the country’s total power generation at 11,020 MW against a demand of 14,955 MW during the last 24 hours.

The hydel generation stood at 2,711 MW, Wapda thermal 1,571 MW, IPPs 6,538 MW and Rental 200 MW. Some 630 MW of electricity was supplied to the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC), the report further said.

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Via DAWN.com