HYDERABAD, Sept 19: Left Bank Canal Area Water Board has said that it was unfair on the part of Wapda to hold Sida and Sindh irrigation department responsible for the losses in Badin district during recent rains/flood.

In a joint statement issued here on Thursday, the board chairman Abdul Ghafoor Nizamani and member Umer Farooq demanded that the Left Bank Outfall Drain should be remodelled to its original designed capacity of 18,000 cusecs of water and the washed away Tidal Link and Choliri Weir reconstructed.

They said that the LBOD was handed over to the board/Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority by Wapda in Feb 2002 when the drain was incomplete, the Tidal Link was in a dilapidated condition and Choliri Weir had been washed away.

They said that the LBOD, according to its original design, was supposed to contain 18,000 cusecs of water but the structure handed over to Sida could carry only 4,500 cusecs.

The board officials further said that Sida was not provided maintenance funds which affected the drain capacity.

They argued that the under capacity LBOD system had to flush escape water, storm water run off and rain water of the catchment areas of Badin, Mirpurkhas, Sanghar and Nawabshah districts.

They claimed that the districts received a rainfall of 20.28 inches in 24 hours and 56.18 inches in July which made it impossible for the drain to handle the water flow.

Mr Nizamani and Mr Farooq said that high tide effect due to washed out Choliri Weir and dilapidated Tidal Link resisted effluent accessibility by sea. Moreover, they added, the water pressure due to cuts by growers (110 in all) damaged the drain at the depression where dykes could not withstand hydraulic pressure.

They said that there were no outfall gates in secondary drains as a result the drains produced a backlash.

They said that inadequate culverts and inlets escapes in the roads and internal drains also obstructed the water flow.

The board representatives appreciated Sida for doing requisite development work to make the whole system viable in every respect.

They said that so far 18 sub-projects for rehabilitation of the drains at a cost of Rs897.186 million were in hand.

Further more, they said, the World Bank had approved Rs119.84 million for the maintenance of the system.

They said that the total loss to left bank and Nara area water board system came to Rs90 million which had been registered with the Flood Commission.