Dadu under stress as saline water mixes with flood

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According to irrigation experts, the mixing saline water with floodwaters may devastate fertile farmlands and render them unsuitable for cultivation for several years. - AP Photo
DADU / LARKANA Advancing floodwaters from the Tori breach entered the district of Dadu on Sunday and displaced thousands of people. About 40,000 people are said to be stranded in 40 villages.

The district authorities planned to build an embankment to protect Dadu town.

The floodwaters have also breached the Main Nara Valley (MNV) drain which originally was constructed for draining out saline water from eastern Balochistan and upper Sindh. Several breaches occurred also in irrigation canals in the area, worsening the situation.

According to irrigation experts, the mixing of MNV's saline water with floodwaters may devastate fertile farmlands of Dadu and render them unsuitable for cultivation for several years. The breach in the MNV drain severed Faridabad town's link with other parts of the district.

Two 40-foot breaches occurred in Ghar drain and one 30-foot breach in the sub-drain of MNV drain which inundated the Faridabad gird station. The breaches also inundated 400 acres of land with standing paddy crop.

In Khairpur Nathan Shah taluka, Mado town and 20 other villages have been inundated.

Johi Mukhtiarkar Fatah Panhwar told reporters that people in the town had been asked to shift to safe places. He said he was not satisfied with the work of building an embankment around the town, adding that irrigation personnel had abandoned the site.

In Qambar-Shahdadkot district, most of the people of Gaji Khuhawar have moved out.

According to DCO Yaseen Shar there were 40,000 people in Gaji Khuhawar and a temporary embankment was being built to protect it.

The DCO said that a ring embankment was being built around Warah at Nawab Shakh and Meer Shakh to cope with the situation.

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