Sukkur Barrage sealed for Bilawal’s visit

Residents complain they were refused entry to their homes for several hours

SUKKUR:

Sukkur held its breath on Sunday. The presence of so many police and Rangers personnel was unnerving. It was an ominous sign, the looming threat of floods adding to the foreboding nature of events.

All roads leading to the Sukkur Barrage were sealed from early Sunday morning. Heavy contingents of law enforcers were stationed on all the major thoroughfares, especially in the area close to the Sukkur Barrage. The latter had been virtually turned into a no-go area.

Soon, however, the reason for the commotion revealed itself - the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairperson was coming to visit.

Read: Final peak flood to pass through Guddu Barrage

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who was supposed to arrive at 11am, finally reached the designated site at 2:30pm. He was accompanied by the usual entourage - Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, Khursheed Ahmed Shah, provincial minister for irrigation, Nisar Khuhro, local bodies minister Syed Nasir Shah as well as other senior officials.

At the barrage, the irrigation secretary briefed the lawmakers and the PPP chairperson about the flood situation and the condition of the protective embankments. Later, the entourage visited Garhi Pathan, near Garhi Mori in Khairpur district to distribute relief goods among those affected by the flood.

Though the information department had informed journalists about the visit of a 'VVIP person' to the Sukkur Barrage, no journalist was allowed to approach the venue. They were not even given access to the briefing room, where the irrigation secretary explained the situation to the visitors.

While this was the treatment meted out to the journalist fraternity, it was the general public, especially those residing near the Sukkur Barrage, who suffered the worst. They were not allowed to leave or enter their houses for several hours. Zaheer Mirani, who lives in Bachal Shah Miyani, located at a little distance from the barrage, told The Express Tribune that he was going home at 12pm when the law enforcers refused to let him continue down the road. The fish trader claimed he stood at the check post for another hour and a half before resignedly going back to his shop. "Scores of people from my area, including women and children, had been stopped by the law enforcers from proceeding towards their homes," he said.

When Bilawal left Garhi Pathan after handing over a few bags to the flood victims, the police deployed on duty took away the remaining bags of ration.

Dr Arshad Mughal, a special advisor to the CM, said that the area was sealed off due to security concerns for the party chairperson. He admitted that the arrangements had caused inconvenience for the residents, but reasoned that the security plan was drafted by the party in Karachi and they had no say in the matter. When asked about the distribution of ration bags, Dr Mughal again admitted to the mismanagement due to which the police personnel had taken the bags away.

Out of danger

The water level at the Guddu Barrage, after discharging its third peak of the season, has started receding. On Sunday, the upstream was recorded at 725,324 cusecs and downstream at 701,905 cusecs.

Sukkur Barrage control room incharge Abdul Aziz Soomro said that they were receiving more than 325,000 cusecs of water at the Tarbela Dam, due to the ice melting at Skardu and were thus forced to discharge more than 300,000 cusecs of water from the dam to maintain a balance between the inflow and outflow.

Read: Water-level recedes at Guddu, Sukkur barrages, increases at Kotri Barrage

Soomro explained that, at present, the temperature in Skardu was 31 degrees Celsius, due to which the ice was melting. He was of the belief that the conditions would prevail until the end of August, when the temperature at Skardu would go below 20 degrees Celsius. Sindh's barrages will continue to experience a medium flood till the end of this month.

The third and by far, the last peak flood is passing through the Guddu Barrage and will reach the Sukkur Barrage by Sunday night, he said. "If no heavy rainfall takes place in the upper catchment areas, there will be no further high floods at any barrages," he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 10^th, 2015.