KARACHI, June 17: The Sindh Assembly was on Friday informed that after completion of study by World Bank experts, design of the Left Bank Outfall Drain (LBOD) would be changed. It was also told that the government was taking various measures for addressing complaints of corruption in the irrigation and power department.

Irrigation Minister Nadir Akmal Leghari, in reply to a question from PPP’s Sassui Palejo during question hour, that desilting of LBOD network had not been carried out for the past three years since it had been handing over to the IPD. He said that the Right Bank Outfall Drain (RBOD) was still under construction.

Replying to Dr Mahreen Razzak Bhutto’s question about a 60-feet-wide breach in Ali Bahar Canal near Kot Diji, Khairpur district, the minister said that the breach had occurred on July 16 last year due to a cut effected by a beldar for diverting water to a big fish pond spread over an area of about two square kilometres starting next to the site of the breach. The breach, he maintained, had not caused damage to any village or property as the water did not cross the pond area.

Mr Leghari said that the breach had occurred during the Kharif season, hence there was no question of damage to wheat crop, a Rabi crop (October-March).

Responding to a question asked by a detained MPA, Ghulam Qadir Chandio, the minister conceded that Abiyana on wheat, cotton and sugarcane was being collected by the Sindh government but the claim that the rate was much higher than in the other three provinces was not correct. He said that on a request, the three provinces had provided their per acre rates and it transpired that those in Sindh and Punjab were lower than in the other two provinces.

The minister also informed the house that there was no approved scheme for stone-pitching along the left side of River Indus in Thatta and Badin Districts to control sea intrusion. However, he added, a concept paper had been submitted to the government to carry out a study in this regard. The concept paper had been cleared by the PDWP during its meeting held on March 14, he told the house, adding that the proposal had been forwarded to federal government.