Khawaja Zaheer Ahmed - PDMA

with modified design that will help remove weaknesses in the old
design. The people sought assurances that the restoration of
breached bunds will be completed in good time before the arrival of
next monsoon. The Commission travelled on the old/ breached
bunds including main Tori Bund, Ghauspur Bund and Gaurghat
Bund that reinforced each other in a triangular loop but had been
extremely eroded; the Commission noted the HFL watermark that
confirmed that the bund with its normal height could not have been
overtopped.
m. During the Commission’s visit to Jaffarabad on 15 March, the most
directly affected district from Tori breach, the locals affirmed the
state of despair due to inattention to restoration of irrigation
supplies that caused loss of two successive crops, one by the
floods and the other for non-restoration of conditions conducive for
farming, as stagnant water and disruption of irrigation supplies from
Kirther canal since after the floods. They were dismayed over the
acts and omissions of the Sindh officials who let the flood waters
divert to about 700, 000 unsuspecting residents of Naseerabad
Division who were being approached by another 300,000 from
neighbouring Sindh to seek shelter in safer havens, without
knowing what was chasing them with vengeance. Serious
allegations were made to vent their grievances with the assertion
that in case the Kharif sowing was not made possible, a large
population will be forced to vacate the inhospitable lands to block
Sukkur Barrage supplies. As the Commission had witnessed the
state of farms during its low over-flight from Sukkur that day, it did
not deem it necessary to seek further depositions to substantiate
what was stated by the local elders in the presence of Deputy
Chairman Senate of Pakistan and a Federal Minister from the area,
with relative dignity and poise; the representatives of the Provincial
Governments did not contradict them either.
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