Help needed: Residents wait for relief as water level rises at Guddu Barrage

Despite VVIP visits, flood affectees are receiving little aid

SUKKUR: The water level at Guddu Barrage has remained steady for the last 24 hours but according to the irrigation officials, hill torrents gushing down the Koh-e-Sulaiman range are constantly adding to the volume of the Indus River, which will cause the barrage's water level to rise after another 24 hours.

Despite VVIP's visits to different protective embankments, residents of the katcha areas, who have been shifted to relief camps, were without food, until the Pakistan Army distributed rations among them on Thursday.

The current flood is passing through all three barrages of Sindh — Guddu, Sukkur and Kotri — with a high flood at the Guddu and Sukkur Barrages, while a low flood is passing through the Kotri Barrage.

Read: Flood situation: Water level starts receding at Guddu barrage, increases at Sukkur barrage

Following the rise in the water level, the residents of the katcha areas at various locations, including Ghotki, Kandhkot and other areas, were shifted to the tent cities, established by the district administrations, but most of them were not provided dry rations. The Sindh chief minister, who visited the Qadirpur Loop Bund twice in one week, on Wednesday distributed dry rations among some flood affectees at the Katcho Bhindi Bund, while the others were left unattended. The Pakistan Army came to the aid of the affected people when, on Thursday, some officers and soldiers from the Pano Akil cantonment visited different protective bunds of Ghotki and distributed dry rations and water amongst the flood affectees at the Katcho Bhindi Bund, Shank Bund, Gemro Bund and others.

Read: Coming through: Low flood passes through Guddu barrage

Reports from Kashmore-Kandhkot speak of the negligence of the district administration and elected representatives, as the flood affectees have not been provided boats for evacuations or tents. The residents of the katcha villages including Gublo, Jam Sonharo, Durrani Mahar, Alam Jagirani, Shah Muhammad Bhangwar, Rajan Bhangwar and others, have evacuated on their own, constructing huts on the higher grounds.

Speaking to the media, they complained that they have not been given tents or rations by the government. Some of the villagers have reportedly set up tents, provided to them during the super floods of 2010.

The Sindh education minister, Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani, and the irrigationsecretary , Zaheer Haider Shah, visited the Tori Bund and others near Kandhkot on Thursday and told the media that after the passage of the recent flood, another flood carrying around 700,000 cusecs of water is expected to pass through Sindh's barrages. They claimed that all the protective bunds have been fortified and therefore the high flood will pass through without causing any harm.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 31^st, 2015.