SAHIWAL, May 20: The Lower Bari Doab Canal breach between Sahiwal and Harrapa has been plugged. Irrigation chief engineer Iftikhar Ahmed Butta told this correspondent that water would be released into the canal sometime on Saturday evening.

He said that about five square miles area of villages 137/9-L, 188/9-L and 138/9-L had been affected where standing crops of maize, tobacco, vegetables and fodder were damaged. Roads leading to the affected villages were also submerged.

The chief engineer said the Punjab chief minister had ordered a survey of damage to crops.

Giving reasons of the breach, Bhutta said holes caused by rats had weakened the embankment. On Friday the irrigation authorises had held the recent windstorm responsible for it shook the rootsof a big tree.

About the element of negligence by irrigation staff, the chief engineer said an inquiry was under way to fix responsibility.