LAHORE: The Indus River System Authority chairman along with members from Sindh and Punjab provinces visited the damaged site of Mirpur-Kotli Road and allied reservoir rim and overruled administrative order of the AJK government regarding imposition of restriction on impounding of Mangla Reservoir beyond 1,202 feet.

They told Wapda to fill the raised Mangla Dam to its maximum capacity of 1,242 feet level at all costs keeping in view the immense benefits for agriculture sector and enhanced power generation in summer season due to maximum water availability in the reservoir.

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The decision was made in a trilateral meeting held here at Wapda House which was attended by high-ups of Wapda, Irsa and Punjab Irrigation Department.

The meeting was held in the backdrop of collapsed stretch of Mirpur-Kotli dual carriageway at Khaliqabad and damage caused to allied reservoir rim.

The meeting noted that there was no threat to the dam safety due to collapse of road.

Wapda has already decided to construct the damaged portion and rehabilitation of the adjacent reservoir rim as a mark of goodwill gesture for people of Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJ&K).

The spokesperson said Irsa had assured Wapda of retaining the water level at 1,210 feet up to May 20 so that foundation works could be completed till that time.

The spokesperson maintained that Irsa endorsed Wapda’s viewpoint that Mangla reservoir has a natural embankment on suburbs of Mirpur city and ideally no road should be constructed on natural embankment area. He said if at all any road is to be constructed on natural embankment, Wapda’s input should be sought to meet the construction requirements such as compaction of material for road foundation and construction of retaining wall with specified design.

“The present reservoir level of Mangla Dam as of today is 1,207.25 feet above mean sea level as compared to 1,152.85 feet on the same day of last year, which indicates more water availability in the reservoir.”

Published in Dawn, May 7th, 2015

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