KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah has asked the departments of local government and irrigation to be alert to face a flood-like situation and carry out work on cleanliness of storm water drains and strengthening of embankments of the Indus river on a war footing.

He took notice of complaints about continuation of rotation system despite flood like situation in the river and directed the secretary of irrigation to send him a detailed report on the rotation system within a week.

The chief minister said while presiding over a meeting at the CM House on Monday that encroachments had shrunk Gujjar Nullah in Karachi to between eight and four feet from its actual width of around 200 feet.

He directed Minister for Local Government Jam Khan Shoro to ensure pumping out of rainwater in time. “You must rent generators and start pumping out rainwater from low-lying areas as the rainy season has already set in,” he said.

He asked the chief secretary Siddique Memon and Karachi Commissioner Aijaz Ali Khan to coordinate with K-Electric to ensure uninterrupted power supply to all pumping stations from Dhabeji to the city so that water supply to the city could continue during heavy rains.

Chief meteorologist Rasheed informed the meeting that about 50 to 55 mm rain was expected in Tharparkar, Umerkot, Badin, Thatta and Karachi on July 12 and 13 but there was no chance of heavy storm.

Mr Shoro said that there were 30 major storm water drains in the city, of them six most important drains were being cleared through heavy machinery. Around 520 nullahs fell within the purview of DMCs which were also cleaning them, he said.

He said that most of the nullahs had been massively encroached upon, for example 1.5 kilometre portion of Mahmoodabad nullah was so thickly encroached that no machine could be moved along it. “We have started work manually to clean such portions,” he said and added that 16 choked points had been identified in Gujjar Nullah and most of them had been cleared.

He said that work orders for desilting of four major nullahs had been issued since the desilting of all the nullahs at the same time was quite difficult. “The Gujjar Nullah is 14 kilometer long. In the first phase, the KMC is working to clear most choked points and thereafter the excavation will continue for next six months. Though it is a temporary arrangement even then it will suffice for the next one year,” he said.

The minister pointed out that 30,000 families were settled along and over the Gujjar Nullah. “We will have to launch a major scheme to remove encroachments and line such nullahs with cement and concrete so that they cannot be encroached upon again in future,” he said.

Secretary of irrigation Zaheer Hyder Shah informed the chief minister that the Indus river was in low flood. The water level at Guddu had risen to 325,000 cusecs because of heavy rains in Koh-i-Suleman area which had mounted pressure on the river system, he said.

He said that work on nine vulnerable dykes had been in progress for the past one month. They are; Qadirpur Loope dyke, Qadirpur Shank dyke, Ulra Jagir and Faridabad dykes at Khairpur, Mud dykes at Naushahro Feroze, Sujawal and Munarki dykes and Mulla Katiar dykes.

The chief minister said that he had already released Rs200 million to the irrigation department for strengthening weak portions of the dykes. “But, I am not happy that even during low flood situation the embankments of some canals are developing breaches,” he said and directed secretary of irrigation to focus on strengthening dykes and monitoring of the system.

Senior Minister for Education Nisar Ahmed Khuhro said that even when the river had swollen with floodwaters rotation system had been imposed on Rohri Canal and some other canals.

Minister for Health Jam Mehtab agreed with Mr Khuhro and said that he was surprised to find the rotation system imposed during this season of heavy rains and medium floods.

The chief minister sought an explanation from the secretary of irrigation over the rotation system and asked him to send a detailed report within a week.

The director general of Provincial Disaster Management Authority, Salaman Shah, said that the PDMA had provided de-watering pumps to every district apart from other facilities like tents and mosquito nets.

Mr Khuhro suggested that in case of emergency tent cities should be set up to provide shelter to would-be flood and rain affected people instead of lodging them in schools. “The temporary settlement in schools causes serious problems like damage to buildings, furniture and fixtures,” he said.

The chief minister agreed with the senior minister and directed the PDMA to be prepared for such an arrangement, if needed.

The meeting was also attended besides the ministers concerned by principal secretary to CM Alamuddin Bullo and SMBR Rizwan Memon.

Published in Dawn, July 12th, 2016