Preventive measures: Hyd commissioner inspects LBOD embankments

HYDERABAD:

In order to avoid floods this monsoon season, Hyderabad Commissioner Jamal Mustafa Syed directed the Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority to reinforce the embankments of the Left Bank Outfall Drain (LBOD) within a month. He also asked the field officer to maintain close coordination with the district administration to ensure that the flood emergency plan is implemented. 

The commissioner had inspected the LBOD and Dhoro Puran in Badin and Mirpurkhas on Sunday and voiced his apprehensions over the weak embankments, especially along the 29-km section of Kadhan Pateji Outfall Drain, which serves as a link between LBOD and the sea. He also pointed out two separate locations where the water flow was blocked by the debris of two fallen bridges. Several districts of southern Sindh, including Badin and Mirpurkhas, were flooded during the 2011 monsoon and it took the irrigation department months to drain water.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 19^th, 2013.