Bottleneck: Water enters historic Sadh Belo temple

Discharge in Sukkur barrage downstream slows due to faulty design of Khairpur-Larkana bridge

SUKKUR:

Water entered the historic Sadh Belo temple situated in the middle of the river near Sukkur on Tuesday. The temple is located on an island in River Indus and was swamped largely due to the faulty design of the Khairpur-Larkana bridge.

A flash flood carrying more than 700,000 cusecs of water is passing through Sukkur barrage. Water discharge to the downstream of Sukkur barrage has slowed down because of the faulty design of the Khairpur-Larkana bridge. According to Sukkur barrage control room incharge Abdul Aziz Soomro, the width of the riverbed of Indus at Gambat is 17 kilometres while the span of the bridge is only 1.2 kilometres. This has resulted in a bottleneck-like situation, hampering the smooth flow of water from the upstream of the barrage into the downstream.

Read: Flood situation: Water level starts receding at Guddu barrage, increases at Sukkur barrage

As flow of water is hampered, the Sadh Belo temple, which is situated in the upstream, witnessed water entering into its premises. There is tremendous pressure on the protective bunds as well.

The historic Hindu temple situated right in the middle of Indus is under threat as water has entered into its building. To save it from possible harm, suction pumps have been installed in the temple to pump out the water back into the river. According to irrigation officials, as the discharge at Sukkur barrage is slow, water level seems steady and is putting pressure on the left bank of the river.

Read: Water woes: Experts to be hired to rehabilitate Sukkur Barrage

According to Soomro, water level at Guddu barrage is receding and its upstream was 729,598 cusecs on Tuesday while its downstream was 710,839 cusecs. However, at Sukkur barrage, the water level is rising and the upstream was recorded at 707,256 cusecs while the downstream was only 660,276 cusecs. He said that water level at Guddu barrage will keep receding while a peak flood is expected to pass through Sukkur barrage on Tuesday night, after which it will start receding. Meanwhile, the upstream at Kotri barrage was 338,659 cusecs while the downstream was 330.519 cusecs. Soomro said that a medium flood is passing through Kotri barrage and water level is constantly increasing there.

Speaking about the Khairpur-Larkana bridge, Soomro said that the design of the bridge is not only hampering the smooth flow of water from the Sukkur barrage, but all the bunds between the two structures are also under tremendous pressure. “Besides this, the travel time of water from Sukkur to Kotri barrages, which used to be three days, is now eight days,” he said. According to him, three bridges constructed over Indus - Khairpur-Larkana bridge, Dadu-Moro bridge and Amri bridge - are hampering the discharge of water.

Meanwhile, water level at Taunsa barrage has started rising once again, which means that another flash flood carrying more than 700,000 cusecs is likely to pass through Guddu barrage within the next couple of days.

Too many VIP visits

“We are facing flood emergency and have to keep a vigilant eye on the barrages and protective bunds,” said an irrigation official requesting anonymity. “During these days, VIP movements are distracting our staff from their prime duty.”

According to him, since the start of the flood season, there have been many VIP movements at various protective embankments and barrages, due to which both high officials and other employees remain busy in protocol duty instead of performing their assigned jobs. He was of the view that the VIPs should refrain from visiting protective embankments and barrages during the flood season so that the irrigation officials can pay more attention to their job. “Such visits should be done before and after the flood season,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 5^th, 2015.