WHILE Punjab is facing floods, the Sindh chief minister, along with government departments, has been repeatedly assuring people that the flow of flood will pass through Sindh with little or no danger.

The National Disaster Management Authority website, which lacks a lot of essentials and has several empty links, shows the holding capacity of several barrages and dams.

It seems that no measure of silt that has deposited over the years is taken into account while mentioning the holding capacity of the barrages.

The barrages in Sindh have heavy deposits of silt, mainly owing to less/non-availability of continuous water over the years, and when the chief minister is being briefed on holding capacity, it is the original design capacity which is being mentioned.

The same blunder was committed during previous floods. If any action is needed to be taken, the silt factor should be taken into account.

Akbar Ali Khaliqdina

Karachi

Published in Dawn, September 20th , 2014