The off-taking canals of the Sukkur Barrage, which were closed on January 6 for cleaning and maintenance, were opened on Tuesday after 15 days. PHOTO: EXPRESS
SUKKUR: The gates of Sukkur Barrage were lowered late on Tuesday night to maintain the pond level for providing water to the seven off-taking canals.
The barrage gates had been raised and the gates of the canals lowered on the night between January 5 and January 6 for annual repair and maintenance work.
Provincial irrigation secretary Zaheer Haider Shah expressed his satisfaction with the work during an inspection of the barrage on Wednesday. He was accompanied by Sukkur Barrage chief engineer Ahmed Junaid Memon and Guddu Barrage chief engineer Irshad Memon.
“During the 15-day closure, we inspected the filter blocks and pavement of the canals and barrage for faults but the structure was intact,” Sukkur Barrage control room in-charge Abdul Aziz Soomro told The Express Tribune. He added that sounding operations were carried out upstream and downstream of the barrage but no pits were found. He further said that all the canal and barrage gates were properly cleaned, oiled and greased to ensure smooth functioning.
Soomro said that the irrigation secretary had asked the Guddu Barrage authorities to release water in the downstream in order to maintain the pond level at the Sukkur Barrage. “The water released from Guddu Barrage takes 24 hours to reach Sukkur, after which water will be supplied to the off-taking canals on January 22,” he explained.
The off-taking canals of the Sukkur Barrage are closed every year for 15 days due to which the people who draw drinking water from them often end up facing hardships. Although the barrage authorities direct different utility services beforehand to make arrangements accordingly, the services, especially the North Sindh Urban Services Corporation (NSUSC) that is responsible for sanitation and water supply, usually fail to live up to expectations. This year, however, corrective measures taken by the new NSUSC managing director led to comparatively fewer problems faced by the residents of Sukkur.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 22nd, 2015.
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