HYDERABAD, Nov 16: The Sida board has resolved to propose to the government to return the Left Bank Outfall Drain back to Wapda to reconstruct its tidal link and Choleri Weir, remove flaws in its alignment and restore its original capacity, reliable sources told this correspondent.
The Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority (Sida) board has recently met under the chairmanship of Abdul Haq.
On Oct 4, the Sindh irrigation and power department had already made a similar proposal to the federal government that Wapda should take over the LBOD, rehabilitate it for required discharge and maintain it at least for two rainy seasons before handing it over to Sida.
The sources said prior to that, Left Bank Canal Area Water Board chairman Abdul Ghafoor Nizamani had also made a similar plea to the government when 82 people had died and thousands had to leave their homes during the recent monsoon in the Badin district.
They said following a decision taken by the Executive Committee of National Economic Council, the LBOD was handed over to the Nara Canal Area Water Board, Sida, by Wapda through a notification issued by the irrigation and power department in February 2002 when it was still incomplete. The tidal link was in dilapidated condition and the Choliri Weir had been washed away.
The original capacity of the drain was 18,000 cusecs when it was designed but the structure handed over to Sida could only carry 4,500 cusecs.
The LBOD system was returned back by the Sindh government in 1995 after the 1994 torrential rains caused 54 breaches in the drain.
A Sida source said handing over an inoperative structure and incomplete system by the executive agency was against accepted professional practices.
He said Sida was not provided with maintenance funds which affected the drain’s capacity.
The sources said during the recent monsoon, rain and flood water could not be disposed of through the drain which caused seepage and salinity in the region. They said the simultaneous rains in the catchment area of four districts — Badin, Mirpurkhas, Sanghar and Nawabshah — in July had made it difficult to handle the situation.
A source said due to the high tide effect on the Kadhan Padeji Outfall Drain and as the Choliri Weir had been washed away and the tidal link was in dilapidated condition, the sea resisted effluent acceptability and the increased water pressure, after growers closed their watercourses, resulted in several breaches in the drain.
Eight of the 12 breaches occurred in the same vicinity where in 1994, 54 breaches had occurred, mostly at the junction of the KPOD and Dhoro Puran Outfall Drain and its crest as the natural course of water had been obstructed.
A Sida official said it was the alignment problem which the president had referred back to Wapda for study.
The very rationale of the crest on the DPOD to divert saline water to sea through the KPOD and water with acceptable level to the Shakoor Dhand had proved wrong by samples tested at Wapda laboratories, Sida sources said.
Moreover, there were no outfall gates in secondary drains as such these drains back lashed in high tide and rains.
The sources said according to experts, such disasters could also occur in future if the drain was not remodelled to its original design, having capacity of 18,000 cusecs, and the washed away tidal link and the Choleri Weir were not reconstructed.
