THATTA: The provincial government’s efforts to remove obstructions from the natural course of the Indus River in order to contain further devastation by floodwater overtopping its embankments in Thatta and Sujawal districts met with violent resistance from some influential growers who on Monday thrashed officials and workers of the irrigation department after holding them hostage for hours.

Irrigation superintending engineer of Baghar Mori circle Abdul Qadir Palijo complained to his highups in the department including the irrigation secretary as well as Thatta revenue officials and the police that he and through his team of subordinate officials and workers tried to dismantle a couple of zamindari bunds (illegally raised protective dykes) near the Ghail Mori area but a group of guards hired by the influential growers concerned attacked them. “The violent group misbehaved with us and then thrashed the irrigation staff and other workers. One of the workers, Mr Kalu, sustained serious injuries in the attack,” he added.

Mr Palijo said that the armed group warned the team against touching the zamindari bunds — raised to protect the standing crops from being washed away. He said that when he asked the team to go ahead with the dismantling work and ignore the threat, the unruly group held him hostage and kept harassing him.

Mr Palijo claimed that the armed men were employees of Natho Panhwar and Akhtar Shah, who had their lands in the area and raised the zamindari bunds to protect them.

He said some saner elements intervened in the matter and persuaded the group to stop harassing and manhandling the irrigation team and workers.

After leaving the area, Mr Palijo told the media that irrigation officials in the province had been ordered to remove all obstructions in the way of floodwater. He said he along with a team of officials and workers had brought heavy machinery to dismantle zamindari bunds within the Ghorabari area to prevent further devastation by floodwater that had already inundated thousands of acres of farmlands in Thatta district and washed away many villages. The official protective bunds had come under immense pressure due to the obstructions like zamindari bunds raised at a number of spots in the district.

Mr Palijo said that influential landowners had posted their armed men at the illegally raised bunds for round-the-clock watch and ward in order to ensure that they were not dismantled.

The commissioner was given a briefing on the flood situation and relief work at a meeting which was attended by Thatta Deputy Commissioner Nadeemur Rehman Memon, Irrigation Superintending Engineer Abdul Qadir Palijo and several other relevant officials.

He said that such obstructions in the Sadrani and Cut Monarki Forests had created a serious threat to the PB, Sonda, Hillaya, Indo Link and other bunds as the flow of floodwater in the Indus at these points had already crossed the 500,000 cusecs mark and was constantly gaining pressure.

Meanwhile, Hyderabad Commissioner Syed Sajjad Haider Shah visited various vulnerable spots along the Indus embankments in Thatta and expressed concern over the condition of the Right Bank Outfall Drain (RBOD) passing through the district.

He observed that the drain — meant to facilitate the flow of brackish and toxic wastewater and its disposal into the sea — was playing havoc with the fertile lands of this region and also creating multiple problems.

He said he would recommend to the Sindh government to consider a proper alignment of the RBOD and a change in its design to turn it beneficial to the stakeholders in future.

Regarding relief work in the flooding-hit areas of the district, Mr Shah said that the Thatta district administration had asked the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) for tents and food for 15,000 affected families. He said that the administration had already been provided relief goods for 6,000 families.

Published in Dawn August 18th, 2015

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