A lack of the government’s measures to rehabilitate and remove encroachments from the agricultural wastewater channels like Left Bank Outfall Drain (LBOD), Right Bank Outfall Drain (RBOD) Pran Naddi and Main Nara Valley (MNV) drain are arousing fears of floods in upcoming monsoon season.
The Sindh Chamber of Agriculture, a farmers lobbying group whose office bearers met on Sunday in Hyderabad, appeared haunted by the specter of reliving the nightmare of flash floods, spillovers and breaches in the drains which caused Rs1,400 financial losses to the agricultural economy alone last year.
“We are very concerned because no development works can be seen on LBOD and other major saline drains,” SCA President Meeran Muhammad Shah said in a statement. He pointed out that LBOD, MNA, Puran, Kadhan Pateji Outfall Drain (KPOD), Sanghar drain, Ghotki drain, Jiskani drain and others were supposed to undergo rehab after 2022 rain triggered flooding.
The drains spilled over and developed breaches, flooding many rural towns and villages on the left and right banks of the Indus river. The overflows and breaches in Manchar lake had also deluged parts of Jamshoro and Dadu districts.
Shah and other farmers at the meeting pointed out that many irrigation authority and farmers given cuts besides the natural breaches in the banks of the saline drains from the last year have not been plugged so far. “The LBOD and Puran had made thousands of families homeless,” he recalled. The meeting called for immediate steps to kickstart the rehabilitation works and to remove all forms of encroachment blocking the flow of water in the saline drains.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 15th, 2023.
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