Exodus as polluted water floods Dadu taluka

Spillover from the Main Nara Valley (MNV) Drain, which has been polluting Manchar Lake for decades, has flooded the Khairpur Nathan Shah taluka of Dadu district. Tens of thousands of people were evacuated from the town which has a population of 250,000.

According to local officials and residents, at least 15 neighborhoods of the town and hundreds of villages in Dodo, Kakkar, Gadhi and Bahadarpur union councils have been inundated. Local residents blame the Sindh government for the situation because it did not make cuts in Manchar Lake's embankments which could have eased water pressure on the drain.

The drain, which carries contaminated wastewater from Larkana Division and parts of Balochistan, empties in the lake. It has been passing water around double of its capacity of 3,000 cusecs.

KN Shah, Mehar and Johi towns of Dadu besides the surrounding areas of Manchar Lake in Jamshoro district have remained at the risk of flooding from the MNV drain and the lake for the last few days. Both the lake and the drain have nearly been overflowing after the recent torrential rains which flooded almost the entire province.

Dadu's Deputy Commissioner Syed Murtaza Ali Shah issued an alert on the night of August 28, asking people to move out of the areas at the risk of flooding. "… all residents of Katcha, Kaachho and urban areas of Mehar, KN Shah and Johi talukas are advised to move to safer places," he wrote in the alert. So far, Mehar and Johi have withstood the gushing waters with the help of the ring embankments. But if the flows continue, they may also inevitably become deluged.

Local MPA Barrister Pir Majeebul Haq said that the three talukas of Dadu have been endangered by the MNV drain as well as the hill torrents. According to him, up to 8,000 affected people have been accommodated in the shelters set up at the government schools in Dadu. He acknowledged that an even larger number of affectees are surviving on the roads and under the makeshift tents on small strips of lands which have somehow been spared by the floods.

The gushing water overflowing from Suprio levee also hit the ring bund of Mehar Town. Bhatti Road was cut at two separate places to release pressure from the ring fence. In both Mehar and Johi towns, local people helped themselves reinforce the ring bunds. Even children helped the grownups in that strenuous exercise. Children also staged a rally in Johi Town. "We are being told to leave your home. But our home is the safest place for us. We can't leave," a child said. The residents of Johi have also been appealing to the Sindh government to give a cut to Manchar Lake to protect Johi.

Govt put on notice

A lawyer has accused the provincial government of deliberately allowing the flows from the MNV drain to Mehar. The Sindh High Court Hyderabad Circuit Bench on Wednesday put the provincial government and the district administration of Dadu on notice over the petition filed by Altaf Sachal Awan Advocate. The court will hear the petition on September 1.

He recalled that KN Shah was also inundated during the super flood in 2010 because the flow of the rainwater in natural drains had been stopped. He alleged that some local politicians are responsible for flooding in KN Shah because they were protecting their lands.

No threat of Indus flooding

The managing director of Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority, Preetam Das, has clarified that no district of Sindh faced the threat of the Indus River triggered flooding. "There is medium flood at Guddu and Sukkur Barrages and a low flood at Kotri barrage," he told the media in Hyderabad on Wednesday.

According to him, a maximum of 600,000 cusecs water may pass through Kotri Barrage after few days, recalling that the barrage had sustained the pressure of more than 900,000 cusecs in the 2010 floods. The irrigation department recorded 518,000 cusecs at Guddu, 529,817 cusecs at Sukkur and 387,992 cusecs at Kotri on Wednesday.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 1^st, 2022.