HYDERABAD: Indus Highway has been opened for vehicular traffic after it remained under floodwaters for about a month.

During the unprecedented torrential rains and flash floods in Sindh, and other parts of the country, the highway had come under water and a section of it had to be cut to accelerate the pace of flows to make their way into the Indus from different areas of Sehwan taluka.

Floodwaters had accumulated in the areas after two cuts were given on the embankment of Manchhar Lake in the first week of September, when the lake had rec­eived huge quantum of flood­-waters from Balochistan via Qambar-Shahdadkot district.

On Sept 20, a 30ft-wide relief cut was given at a location post-Sehwan toll plaza near Bachal Channa Goth by provincial irrigation authorities. The cut later widened to a greater extent, disconnecting the main route of traffic bound for up and down country. National Highway remained the only route for vehicular traffic’s movement.

NHA likely to build a bridge over a low-lying portion, says official

“The cut eventually widened to around 100 metres and gushing water completely destroyed this section of Indus Highway,” said a National Highway Authority (NHA) official requesting anonymity. He added that “NHA has complied with October 12 directives of Sindh High Court (SHC), Larkana bench, ordering restoration of Indus Highway.

The high court’s Hyderabad circuit bench comprising Justice Mohammad Iqbal Kalhoro and Justice Amjad Ali Sahito, while hearing petitions on floodwaters issue and flood affected people on October 5, had directed NHA to coordinate with Jamshoro district administration for the restoration of the N-55 section of the Indus Highway.

“It will be an asphalt road again. NHA experts have recently visited this section of Indus Highway and the authority is probably be going to build a bridge over this portion of the road. A similar cut was said to have been given during 2010 super floods as well,” he said.

All sorts of vehicles including cars, passenger vans, coaches and trucks were seen plying on Indus Highway on Tuesday.

According to the NHA official, cars may find it difficult to move along the Kolachi-Mehar portion of the highway in Dadu district because this part of the highway is still under floodwaters. “But, bigger vehicles like coaches are smoothly passing through the inundated portion,” he said.

The Kolachi area is located around 4kms away from Khairpur Nathan Shah, where up to 10-11 feet water had accumulated last month. The water has since receded from the city centre but parts of KN Shah taluka are still under several feet high waters.

Indus Highway serves as the main route, in addition to National Highway, connecting several districts including provincial capital Karachi. Sindh irrigation authorities have started gradually rehabilitating embankments of Manchhar Lake, where two major cuts were given in September.

One of the cuts, at RD-14, is said to have been almost plugged while the other cut, at RD-52, is yet to be plugged. Wapda authorities are also preparing for the rehabilitation of the Main Nara Valley Drain (MNVD), or Right Bank Outfall Drain-I, in the days to come.

Flows from Manchhar Lake had flooded vast areas along Indus Highway, rendering it invalid for all practical purposes. The only route available for commutation between upper Sindh and other areas of the province was the Larkana-Sehwan (LS) bund road. But the LS dyke was also eventually given four cuts on Sept 8 to let floodwaters from the lake collected in a pocket formation around the bund. LS bund’s cuts allowed floodwater to enter the riverine area along the river. The bund is still closed for vehicular traffic.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2022