Khawaja Zaheer Ahmed - PDMA

eaches for any reason and so inscribed in the 2008 edition of
Sindh Bund Manual as well. The Manual contains A-Z of theory and
history with data on rains/floods since early 1900, policy options,
approved practices and technical instructions to manage the Indus
and its flows. While listing various options to control floods, the
Manual strongly rejects the option of constructing any major
reservoirs as a remedy to contain or store the surplus water-flows.
But then that paradigm was predicated on maintenance of
bunds for meeting the purpose for which these were erected. It
was recently updated, formally in January 2008 at the initiative of
Mr. Shuja Junejo, the then Irrigation Secretary, a senior Irrigation
engineer with vast experience and at the helm during 2010 Flood.
In his last official capacity, he was the Vice-Chairman of the Indus
River Commission that approved the revised edition of the Bund
Manual, as the sole departmental guide for policy levels for
execution by the field staff. Its preface gives most lucid and self-
contained summation of the concept and policy for bund safety in
Sindh keeping in view the spread of Indus, in high seasons. The
Manual was originally developed by a British engineer in 1930’s,
and updated from time to time. The last 2008 edition took note of
the ‘Super Floods’ of 1942 and 1976. It was after this flood that the
decision was taken to raise the freeboard height from four to six
feet from HFL of 1976, a fact not highlighted before the Sindh
Cabinet or the Commission. This edition also incorporated the
experiences from USAID sponsored visit to Mississippi River by
Sindh irrigation officials for studying flood management practices
deemed relevant for the Indus plain. Mr. Junejo was part of US
study group as well as the official group that supervised revision of
the Manual. The Manual provides a most comprehensive overview
of Indus River System and its reaches and nature, to specify self-
contained prescriptions of ‘Do’s' and Don’ts’ for every
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