HYDERABAD: Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority’s (Sida) top officers on Thursday quashed widespread rumours about danger of flood in Hyderabad and Kotri and said there was no threat to the twin cities at the moment but necessary steps needed to be taken to save them from possible deluges in future.

They said that medium flood was passing through Indus River but rumours about impending flood had been spread to create panic and fear among people.

They were speaking to representatives of some non-governmental organisations, civil society and the Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (HCCI).

Sida managing director Pritam Das said that a concrete wall along the dyke could be built to protect the cities from possible floods.

Sida’s general manager (transition) Ghulam Mustafa Ujjan said that the purpose of their meeting was to inform members of civil society to share facts about the flood and assure them that the dykes were safe.

Pritam Das said that currently 0.6m cusecs of water was passing through Kotri barrage. Land in the riverine area did not belong to irrigation department, therefore the people settling there could not be stopped. The riverbed dwellers always shifted to areas up the dykes during flood and returned after floodwaters receded, he said.

He said the district administration had been informed about illegally built housing schemes on the riverbed of Indus.

HCCI vice president Awais Khan said that builders who had built the housing schemes had fleeced people and fled away.

Zulfikar Halepoto, a water activist, said that arrangements made by Sida and the irrigation department to fight the flood were satisfactory and stressed the need for revival of natural waterways of the river to reduce losses as best as possible.

Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2022