ISLAMABAD, Aug 29: The recent floods that played havoc with life and property in Badin have been attributed to the mismanagement of provincial irrigation and planning department in an inquiry report submitted to Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali by Wapda.

The prime minister, during a visit to the rain-affected areas on July 30, had directed Wapda chairman Zulfiqar Ali Khan to submit a report on the performance of the drainage system of the Left Bank Outfall Drain (LBOD), official sources told this correspondent.

“With the construction of the LBOD project, the problems in Badin decreased during the floods but the full potential of the project is not being exploited because of mismanagement in the upper reaches of LBOD (Nawabshah, Sanghar and Mirpurkhas) where local people made relief cuts in the embankments of the LBOD,” says the report.

Moreover, some water from canals found its way into the drainage system and aggravated the situation. Had the LBOD not been constructed Badin area would have suffered more as it had during floods in the past.

The LBOD was completed in 1997 except for its portion of Chotiari Reservoir which was completed in December 2002 and is still under testing.

Some political parties have been demanding that a comprehensive and independent inquiry should be initiated to ascertain whether the funds provided by some eight international agencies were really spent on the project, and that the World Bank should also be involved in the process.

The Wapda chief reported that before the construction of the LBOD, Badin area had suffered major rain-water floods in 1959, ‘61, ‘62, ‘64, ‘67, ‘70, ‘73, ‘76 and ‘79. During this period, the rainfall was recorded between 8 inch and 24 inch, destroying crops, submerging hundreds of villages and displacing thousands of people.

The report claims that the LBOD system had been severely damaged after local inhabitants made hundreds of relief cuts in the drainage network. It recommends that the damaged infrastructure be repaired before the next spell of monsoon.

It points out that due to these cuts the discharge in the drains in the lower reaches has been almost three times more than the designed capacity.

The report stresses the need for raising the banks to avert overtopping or further breaching. Because of the sea tide, water level is very high. The Shakoor Lake has attained its full level, hence the flow is slow and water remains in the drain parameter for half of the day. The weak portions of the KPOD in the lower reaches must be raised to avert overtopping.

It recommends that the non-inspection path side of spinal drain which is in low-lying areas must be immediately raised and strengthened.

Inadequate coordination between the provincial irrigation and planning department and the drainage department (under SIDA) has caused some difficulties. There must be proper coordination for water management between the irrigation and drainage departments.

It also suggests that the cuts in drains in Nawabshah, Sanghar and Mirpurkhas areas should be checked and prevented in future so that Badin area should not be overloaded with floodwater.

According to the report, the designed capacity of the LBOD spinal drain is 4000 cusecs but there was almost three times more discharge during the recent rains which badly inundated the areas and took much longer than the stipulated seven days to drain.