Investigation into Taunsa bund breach underway

Investigation will reveal causes of the breach that caused flood water to destroy Muzaffargarh district.

MULTAN: A three-member inquiry committee of the Irrigation Department has started investigating the causes of the breach in the left marginal bund (LMB) of the Taunsa Barrage that caused the flood water to cause destruction in settled areas of Muzaffargarh district.

The committee comprising Irrigation Department engineers visited the barrage on Tuesday for fact-finding.

Several illegally erected dykes on the barrage’s right bank – set up allegedly to prevent water from flowing into its pond area which has been encroached upon by influential families – caused floods to wreck havoc in settled areas, The Express Tribune has learnt.

These influential families include the Khosas and the Khinjras who have allegedly cultivated the pond area land and have established hunting sites there.

Despite the water flow in Indus crossing the alarming level of 1,000,000 cusecs, the right bank was not breached to let the water rush into the pond area (reserved for the purpose).

The LMB was breached first, followed by the Taunsa-Panjnad (TP) Link canal and then the Muzaffargarh-Link canal. The water went on to flood the Muzaffargarh district and its adjoining areas. The areas flooded included Kot Addu, Mahmood Kot, Qasba Gujrat, Shah Jamal, Wasandey wala, Rohainwala, Thatha Qureshi etc.

No action has so far been taken against the Irrigation secretary, Malik Rabnawaz and the SDO, Habib Bodla for failing to ensure that the right bank was breached in time so that the flood water gushed into the pond area. Bodla was recently promoted to the post of XEN after allegedly bypassing other candidates.

Official sources have disclosed that when the water level in the barrage was increasing the Irrigation secretary, the SDO and the head PMO Qadri, who is a retired chief engineer, could not decide in time whether to breach the right marginal bund (RMB) at no22 high point.

This, the officials said, would have caused the water to flow back into the River Indus, flooding only one district, Faqeerwali, on its way. They said that the district was populated by staunch supporters of the Khosa family.

Instead of taking action against the contracto, who worked on the remodelling of the Taunsa barrage, which allegedly weakened its banks, the Irrigation Department has handed him the contract to fill the breach in the Abbaswalla bund.

According to officials sources, the task to increase the height of and strengthen the LMB was contracted out to Mian Muhammad in Rs220 million.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 9^th, 2010.