Affectees lay down tools, assured of swift action

The victims of the Attabad landslide lake have called off their struggle to widen the spillway.


Shabbir Ahmed Mir June 18, 2010

The victims of the Attabad landslide lake have called off their struggle to widen the spillway after a high-level official delegation assured them that they were looking into the matter, officials said on Friday.

Frustrated for months, the people displaced by the lake had decided on Thursday to take it upon themselves the much-awaited task of widening the spillway in an attempt to drain the lake. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), responsible for dealing with natural disasters, had been considering using explosives to widen the spillway but had failed to decide on a course of action.

The official delegation that flew to Hunza comprised Lieutenant General Farooq Ahmed, NDMA chairman Lieutenant-General Nadeem, the Gilgit-Baltistan Force Commander, and provincial chief secretary Fateh Mohammad Yaqoob. They assured the local elders  that steps will be taken within a week to widen the spillway. The delegation also inspected the spillway from air inspection and met some local people.

Official sources said that
section 144 had been imposed in Hunza. They said that the inflow and outflow of water from the lake had equalised.

On Thursday, despite strict security arrangements made by the local government to stop people from advancing towards the spillway, some residents of Shishkat, Ainabad and Gulmit made their way and began digging in an attempt to drain the 23-kilometre-long lake, sources said. The local administration, as a precautionary measure, had impounded boats and denied them access to the spillway.

Meanwhile, Hunza Deputy Commissioner Zafar Waqar Taj said that water outflow from the lake was normal and according to plan. “The current inflow of water is 5,800 cusecs while the outflow was recorded as 6,200 cusecs,” he said. Talking about relief items that had been halted on their way, he said that goods halted at the Sost border were being brought to the area through boats and were also being transferred to the upper regions. He said that the helicopter service had been suspended for the past three days due to uncertain weather conditions and would be restored as soon as the weather was normal. (With additional input from APP)

Published in The Express Tribune, June 19th, 2010.

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