Gushing waters inundated a large part of the Indus Highway from Bhan Saeedabad city to Ural Wah in Sehwan. The water is 10-feet deep and the Shabaz Qalander railway track stands submerged.
Cuts were made at more than 10 points near Karampur to let the water flow into the river.
However, the pressure of water has increased on the drain that protects Bhan Saeedabad city and a breach developed near Bhalai Goth. Efforts were being made late on Saturday to plug the breach.
Eighty per cent of the population has moved out of the area on a self-help basis. All the villages of Dal, Channa and Sehwan-1 union councils had already been submerged.
Meanwhile, a 250-foot wide cut was made in the Indus Highway to save the CNG station owned by Asif Ali Shah, a relative of the provincial minister Murad Ali Shah, while Tilti and other cities have been hit by water and a large number of people have been stranded.
The land routes with Hyderabad, Sehwan, Dadu, and Larkana have been suspended because of the submersion of the highway and railway tracks, causing problems for the people.
Though the floodwater is receding fast from Johi, the area continues to experience food shortages because land routes with other cities have been suspended for the past 15 days.
Tori bund breach
Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah has rejected the idea that the Tori Bund was deliberately breached at the behest of influential landlords. “The embankment caved in to heavy pressure of floodwaters,” he told journalists at a Watan Cards distribution ceremony in Khairpur after visiting Tori Bund. The breach has been plugged. Shah held out an assurance that all flood survivors would be rehabilitated to their homes.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 19th, 2010.
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