LARKANA: Rice Canal developed a 40-foot wide breach near Kari Mori close to Sehar railway station on Wednesday, inundating Yar Ali Chandio and Gulsher Chandio villages and flooding recently transplanted paddy seedlings.

The water was now gushing towards other villages and Rohri-Kotri railway track, said locals.

The breach had occurred at 382-RD and the irrigation department officials were informed about the seepage on Tuesday but they did not take the villagers’ complaint seriously, they said.

As the irrigation staff arrived late the villagers set to plug the breach on self-help basis. Later, heavy machinery was mobilised to the breach site.

Larkana Commissioner Ghulam Mustafa Phull told Dawn that the breach had almost been plugged and the deputy commissioner had been asked to survey the area for scale of damage to agricultural land and villages.

The villagers said the breach had not yet been plugged and the irrigation staff was making efforts to plug it with the help of heavy machinery.

Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2024