Repair work of main dykes to be completed by June 30: minister

Sindh Minister for Irrigation, Jam Saifullah Dharejo has said that there will be no heavy floods till July 15 in Sindh adding that with the help of the Met office, we are strictly monitoring the weather and if any change is noticed, we will share the situation with the media.
He said this while addressing a news conference at DCO House Sukkur on Friday night. He further said that the repair work of the main dykes would be completed by June 30, while other secondary work will take another 15 to 20 days. Comparing the current water situation with that of last year, he assured that the water level is low. "Last year, there was an acute water shortage in Sindh and we were fighting with the Punjab because they were taking water through the Chashma-Jhelum link canal", he said.
"I myself camped out in Sukkur for nearly two months," he said. Tori Bund had overflowed and as the water pressure increased, eight to nine districts in Sindh were inundated. "It was a logistic nightmare for us because millions of people were left homeless and we had to provide them shelter immediately," he recalled.
There were 3,000 breaches in rivers, canals, branches and other water courses and the right side of the Indus River was completely ruined, he said. In response to a question about implementing the judicial commission on Tori Bund, the minister said that those involved in corruption and criminal negligence would be punished. So far we have received Rs 2.5 billion and have completed repair work of all the main dykes, satisfactorily," he said. Consultants have been hired to figure out how to reopen the 10 closed gates of Sukkur Barrage, the minister replied when asked about enhancing the discharge capacity of Guddu and Sukkur barrages. The discharge capacity of Sukkur Barrage was 1.5 million cusecs and after the closure of 10 gates, it has been reduced to 900,000 cusecs. According to the minister, a firm from China is trying to construct a hydel power unit at Sukkur Barrage, which will produce 120 megawatts of electricity.