Khawaja Zaheer Ahmed - PDMA

submitted that until 27 th July, the 2010 summer season
generally remained dry in Sindh and Indus River System
Authority (IRSA) was being urged to release more water for
its irrigation needs after extension of releases in Taunsa-
Panjnad Canal. However, the sudden build-up at Tarbela
and Mangla during next 2-3 days, took every one by
surprise. The 2010 flood was classified as ‘Super-floods’ as
per the Sindh Bund Manual, and it came down in a relatively
shorter period that halted natural dredging process. Since no
such serious flood had visited Sindh/Country since 1992, it
had created a sense of general complacency to limit the
departmental capacity to check and maintain strength of the
bunds, as mandated. As a consequence, the Tori and MC
Bunds overtopped by excessive flows; there were no
deliberate breaches, though non-maintenance due to limited
budget had contributed to the damages. To Mr. Junejo,
maintenance work ensured safety of most bunds except two
that breached. The breach of Aliwahan Bund could not have
stopped overtopping of the Tori Bund; instead it would have
fully inundated many more districts on the left bank of Indus
river right up to Hyderabad, without corresponding benefits
for other public or private assets or peoples elsewhere; he
had first-hand experience of witnessing the 1976 breach at
Aliwahan as an SDO. He was also of the view that in 2010,
the hill torrents in ‘Sulemanki’ range of DG Khan flooded and
inundated the ‘Kachhi’ canal area of Balochistan to cause
havoc. He admitted that many gates of Sukkur Barrage
remain closed due to design issues developed by changes in
the Indus River course in 1930s that reduced its capacity
from designed 1.5 million cusecs to 900,000 cusecs by
irrigation research undertaken in Pune in pre-independence
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