July 14, 2002	Sunday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 3, 1423

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SUKKUR, July 13: An unprecedented downward trend in water level at Sukkur Barrage has alarmed irrigation officials who were confused over the cause of a sudden adverse change.

They told Dawn here on Saturday that the water level at the barrage was expected to continue to go up till the end of this month but over a couple of days they recorded a sharp decline of 50,000 cusecs instead.

“It’s a matter of surprise,” one of the officials said and added that even a low-intensity flood was very much expected during the last week of this month. Experts believed that chances of flood situation at Sukkur and Guddu barrages in a fortnight had now vanished.

The alarming situation has created a great deal of panic among the growers, especially those at the tail-ends.

Statistics showed that the flow at Sukkur Barrage was 121,526 cusecs upstream and 60,911 cusecs downstream on Saturday.

Officials pointed out that the level should have crossed 200,000 cusecs in these days of July.

At Tarbela, they said, water flow on Saturday was recorded at 171,000 cusecs upstream and 180,000 cusecs downstream while flow at Chashma was 213,000 cusecs upstream and 200,000 cusecs downstream.