SEHWAN: A 30-feet-wide cut was made through Indus Highway on Tuesday to speed up the flow of water into the Indus River from areas which came under water as a result of earlier relief cuts.

On Sept 4 and 5, cuts were made in Manchhar Lake’s embankment at RD-14 and RD-52 as water in the lake reached dangerous levels posing serious flood risk for nearby areas.

As a result of the cuts, 10 union councils in Sehwan were inundated. To allow the flow of water into the Indus, four cuts — one by one — were later made in the river’s Larkana-Sehwan dyke.

However, the Indus highway, between the cuts in lake and the dyke, was causing an obstruction in swift flow of water. Therefore the cut was made through the dual carriageway near Sehwan toll plaza and village Bachal Channa. Confirming the development, Jamshoro SSP Javed Baloch said the cut was given though both tracks of the highway.

An irrigation official told Dawn that the flows were slowing down near the highway, thus building pressure in the affected union councils.”

According to Manchhar lake executive engineer, Mahesh Kumar, the cut would trigger speedy flows from LS dyke into the river and by Wednesday, reduced water levels would become apparent.

Meanwhile, the cuts in the lake and the dyke have caused severe distress for the residents as they disconnected road links between different areas including Karampur, Bhan Syedabad, Talti, Sehwan etc.

After the Indus Highway section between Sehwan and Dadu came underwater as a result of cuts in Manchhar’s embankments, the road over the LS dyke remained the only accessible land route between the two cities.

However, since the cuts in the dyke, the lone land route has also been cut off. As a result, people were being ferried through boats from one end of the dyke to the other.

Meanwhile, the water level in Manchhar lake continued to recede on Tuesday as the two breaches successfully eased the pressure on the lake.

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2022