KARACHI, April 14: Steps to rehabilitate the age-old irrigation system in Sindh and to streamline its operation along modern lines came under consideration at a high-level meeting held at the Governor’s House here, with Sindh Governor, Mohammedmian Soomro, in the chair.

The meeting was attended by Chief Secretary, Javed Ashraf Hussain; Principal Secretary, Akhtar Zamin; secretaries of irrigation and agriculture departments, officials and irrigation experts and engineers of international repute.

President Pervez Musharraf had recently announced a financial assistance of Rs10 billion for the first phase of rehabilitation of the province’s age-old irrigation system.

At present, the irrigation system in Sindh consist of three barrages over River Indus. Of them, Sukkur Barrage was constructed in 1932, with a command area of 7.6 million acres; Kotri Barrage in 1956, with a command area of 2.6 million acres and Guddu Barrage in 1963.—APP