DADU, July 19: Many parts of flood protective bund and Manchhar Lake embankments have become vulnerable following the recent rain.

Pipes, installed at the Manchhar Lake embankment by local farmers, will soon be removed as these have proved to be dangerous for the embankment.

This was said by the chief engineer, Sukkur Barrage, Syed Noor Mohammad Shah, while talking to journalists at RD-45 of the FP embankment on Saturday.

He said there was no transport system to reach the damaged points of the Nain Gaj.

He admitted that 16 spurs having different lengths constructed along the Nain Gaj embankment from RD-0 to 30 were damaged during the recent water flow. However, he said the situation was under control. He said these spurs were constructed to retain the Nain Gaj to its original course and to avoid damage to its embankment.

He maintained that different parts of FP and Manchhar Lake embankments were in worst condition. He said no part of these embankments were repaired before monsoon due to shortage of funds.

He said the irrigation department had proposed to raise the height of the FP embankment by six feet. He said the proposal was sent to the federal flood commission in 1996 and the work on the embankment would be started next year.

He said the water level was reducing at the Nain Gaj and it had reached at six feet on Saturday at Zero Point while at the centre the level was rising. He added that at the Manchhar Lake the water level was recorded at 110.6 feet.

He observed that the situation at the Indus River was also dangerous at the Bhanote spur, Madh embankment near Mehrabpur and the J-spur along the Dadu-Moro bridge. He said Rs85 million had been spent on the Bhanote spur in three years and the irrigation department had released Rs5 million more for the spur four days back. He said the work would be completed in four years.

He said water of the Indus River was eroding the J-spur and the Madh embankment near Mehrabpur.

However, he said, flood control equipment had been provided at these sites.

HOUSES COLLAPSED: More houses collapsed in the Haji Khan Drigh Bala village, Shahak Rodhnani, on Saturday as water of the Nain Gaj entered houses.

Over 200 villages in the western belt of the Dadu district remained cut off from other areas for the seventh consecutive day.

The affected villagers have demanded that the government should ensure food and medicines supply to the area.

A visit by this correspondent to the affected Shahak Rodhnani village in the Kachho on a boat on Saturday revealed that several houses had collapsed due to the Nain Gaj water and many villagers were infected with gastroenteritis, diarrhoea and eye diseases.

A villager, Ali Hassan Rodhnani, said 20 houses had collapsed and 15 were damaged partially. He said the water had washed away households of villagers, along with grain and 15 cattlehead.

He complained that no official had visited the village to provide relief to the residents.

He said the villagers wanted to shift their families to safer places but boats were not available.

He said four cases of snakebite were also reported in the village.

In the Haji Khan village, located 10 kilometres off the FP embankment, Zafarullah Dahiri said 10 houses had collapsed in the village. He said 15 houses were destroyed in the Drigh Bala village and grain and cattlehead were washed away by water of the Nain Gaj.

He said the people needed medicines and food.

Dr Mehboob Ali Rind, the in charge of a medical camp established by the health department at RD-45, said there was no means to reach the villages of the Kachho belt.

He said patients of gastroenteritis and eye diseases were coming from different villages of the area. He said 175 patients had been treated at the camp.

At RD-62 of the Manchhar Lake embankment, a fisherman, Anwar, said over 30,000 fishermen families of the lake had migrated during the last eight years as water of the lake had turned brackish.