KOT ALMO (Thatta), March 6: A presidential committee comprising members of Sindh Assembly visited some vulnerable sites along the Indus in Thatta district on Sunday.
It said the Sujawal Munarki bund faced a threat because its condition was similar to that of Aqil-Aghani loop bund.
The committee is headed by MPA Dr Ahmed Ali Shah from Naushahro Feroze and has Fasih Shah, Fayyaz Bhutt and Ayesha Khoso as members.
Officials informed the committee that four spurs of the bund had not been approved despite recommendations made by the irrigation department.
The committee expressed dissatisfaction over work dome to rehabilitate the canal system in the coastal district of Thatta. It visited different places on Saturday and Sunday.
According to Dr Ahmed Ali, the condition of Munarki bund needed to be addressed immediately. He said that an experiment needed to be undertaken before building such spurs but it had not been done and time was running out. “Therefore, the spurs’ building will be part of the second phase of rehabilitation of the system.”
Expressing satisfaction over the work dome by a consultancy firm comprising retired engineers, he said the quality of work would be maintained. “But Munarki and Aqil-Aghani bunds are our point of concern,” he said.
He said that restoration of the canal system in Thatta was not up to the mark. “We have reported it to the president but the work had been done before formation of the committee,” he said.
Faish Shah, MPA from Nawabshah, said the committee would propose that one big and three small spurs must be built. He said that a free board should also be raised by six feet.
He said that huge dumping of stone had been at the place but it was still a weak point. He said that proper rehabilitation of canals had not been done and the committee would also raise this issue.
He said that due attention needed to be paid to canals’ repair because these had completely been washed away during floods. The MPA, however, expressed satisfaction over work on the site of Kot Almo breach.
