July 15, 2007	Sunday	Jamadi-us-Sani 29, 1428

QUETTA, July 14: Dozens of villages were inundated in Jaffarabad district on Saturday as floodwaters were not finding their way to the Manchhar Lake. And several thousand mine workers remained stranded in coalfields as the road link could not be restored until late in the evening.

“Floodwaters created a 31km long and 19km wide pond with 4 to 6 feet deep water from Bagh to Gandakha area,” a senior official of the irrigation department said, adding that another 30- to 40-foot breach in Hazarwah sub-canal had worsened the situation in the area.

Sources said the Sindh government had constructed a huge dyke along the Saifullah Magsi Canal that blocked the flow of floodwaters downstream. “Despite negotiations with the Sindh irrigation authorities this issue could not be resolved, causing huge destruction in the area,” sources said.

The huge flow of water was also not allowing the irrigation authorities to fill up the breach at Hazarwah sub-canal. About 160 to 170 villages have been washed away between Head Bagh and Gandakha area that also destroyed the area’s road link with Usta Mohammad.

The flood situation has also not changed in the Jhal Magsi area.

“Everything was destroyed that came in the way of heavy floodwaters,” Jan Mohammad Jamali, Deputy Chairman of the Senate, told Dawn from Usta Mohammad by telephone. He said that until floodwaters were allowed to flow downstream through its natural course the situation would not improve in the Jaffarabad district.

Former prime minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, who has been visiting the flood-affected areas daily, criticised the attitude of the provincial government towards his native district and said that despite huge losses Chief Minister Jam Mohammad Yousuf had not visited the area.

Meanwhile, the mine workers were facing shortage of food, drinking water and other essential items in Mach, Degari, Chagai, Surrang, Harnai, Duki and Marwar coalfields. All Katcha roads were washed away in heavy rains and floods. Mine owners demanded that the government should provide bulldozers for making way up to the minefields to rescue mine workers stranded in the area for the last two weeks. “We are ready to pay for bulldozers,” former federal minister Mir Ibrahim Baloch said.