LARKANA, June 1: Substantial erosion has been noticed on a two to three kilometre stretch of the Akil-Agani loop bund of the River Indus after a rise in water flow on Wednesday. Although the bund is being reinforced to ward off the danger at vulnerable points, the rise in water discharge up to 65,000 cusecs on Wednesday has added to the worries of irrigation officials.

This correspondent visited the affected site and noticed the active erosion.

Officials said that following the release of Rs70.5 million by the federal flood commission, the strengthening and repair of the bund was undertaken on a war footing.

The executive engineer of northern division Dadu, Shafqat Wadho, said that the repair and strengthening of the damaged portion of apron was in full swing and would be completed in one month.

However, the contractors working there were worried due to the unexpected rise in water current and were not sure whether the job would be completed within the given timeframe.

The irrigation officials were conceded that the erosion was a threat to the repair work as currents were washing away stones being dumped there.

Sixteen trucks were seen offloading stones at the site. “We expect high flood this year,” the engineer said.

In 2004, repair work was undertaken when the mole of one of the spurs was damaged. Due to water action, the apron had also suffered damage, with its size trimming from 80 feet to 30 feet.

The development had prompted the members of the federal flood commission and Sindh Irrigation Authority to visit the area.

The irrigation officials confirmed that the River Indus was changing its course and directly striking at 2/0 mile of Akil-Agani loop bund. “This is unusual,” they said. Due to the change of direction, the action was noticed and seen “quite serious”.

The work was to be completed in January but got delayed, sources said. Recently, the relief commissioner, Sindh, S. Anwar Haider, visited the bund along with the District Coordination Officer,DCO, Larkana, Ahmed Bakhsh Khokhar and stressed the need of accelerating the pace of work.