LARKANA, March 7: After visiting Akil-Aghani dyke of River Indus, the technical committee of the Indus River Commission has decided to construct one T-shaped Spur and 10 studs and also increase the length of stone apron from 30 feet to 50. This was stated by Sindh Irrigation Secretary Mohammed Rafique Memon at a press conference at the press club here on Monday which was also attended by Idress Rajput, government's consultant on dykes' supervision and monitoring and Noor Mohammed Memon, the former chief engineer of Guddu Barrage.

Mr Memon said that keeping in view the sensitivity of the dyke, the committee has taken this decision with an aim to fight back floods in future.

Terming the measures short-term, the secretary said that detailed studies on constructing more spurs would also be conducted simultaneously as long-term solution. Recommendations of this committee, to be submitted with the Indus River Commission for approval, would be cleared in a week's time, he added.

When questioned about availability of funds to kick start the job, he said that the Sindh government had released Rs1 billion for rehabilitation of dykes across the province while federal government's funds, to the tune of Rs2.5 billion, were in the pipeline.

Out of 76 approved schemes, work on 39 had already been initiated, he added.

He said that 260-foot long T-shaped spur with a 150- foot depth would be at 2/6 site of Akil-Aghani loop bund.

When asked whether the committee had enough time to complete the job before the coming floods, he said by the end of May “we would be able to finish the work”.

He said although law and order problem existed along the dykes in upper Sindh, but the government was fully determined to repair the damaged dykes and rehabilitate the irrigation system. “We have been given an assurance by the President of Pakistan at a recent meeting that funds would be made available for the purpose”.

He further said that miscalculation of water flow in Sindh during floods by the irrigation department officials the was the major reason which damaged the dykes adding that “we are studying to put in place gauging system to measure hill torrents in time”.

Replying to another question, he said we should not be dependent on irrigation department alone during floods and brushed aside suggestions from journalists to divert

the current flow of River Indus from Akil-Aghani dyke at this juncture.

Earlier, the committee members had a discussion with the people at the site. Speaking on the occasion Khair Mohammed Shaikh, Vice President of PPP Larkana district, Tarique Nazeer Shaikh, president of the trade federations of Larkana and Hazar Khan Aghani, a local landlord, sought early completion of work keeping in view quality and standards. They also extended their cooperation to the committee.

DCO of Larkana Abdul Aleem Lashari said that the local people's view point regarding behaviour of the River Indus should be taken into consideration because they had a long experience of braving floods.

The committee comprises Haroon Memon, Chief Engineer of Right Bank of the Indus, Shafqat Wadho, Superintendent Engineer of Saifulal Magsi branch, Abdul Rehman Nizamani, Superintendent of Western Circle, Zahid Junejo Director Hydrology, Idress Rajput and Allah Warayo Channa, experts in construction and Noor Mohammed Baloch, the former Chief Engineer of Guddu Barrage.