LARKANA, March 25: Work on the construction of one T-shaped spur and 10 studs on flood-ravaged Akil-Aghani dyke of the Indus, five kilometres from here, has not yet started.

A subcommittee of the Indus River Commission proposed in a March 7 meeting their construction to make the dyke safe during flood seasons and the commission approved the proposal in a meeting held in Karachi on Friday.

The meeting was chaired by Sindh irrigation minister Jam Saifullah Dharejo.

A source privy to the meeting told this correspondent that the Sindh irrigation secretary, all chief engineers and superintendent engineers and members of the committee attended the meeting.

The decision would be forwarded to the Federal Flood Commission (FFC) and then to the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) for final approval, said the source.

In light of past experience, it is feared both the bodies (FFC and CDWP) will take at least a month to approve the proposal, shrinking deadline for completing the gigantic task, which is supposed to end by May 31.

But sources in the irrigation department claimed that work on the site would be kick-started before seeking a formal approval from the FFC and CDWP.

The cost of construction of one T-shaped spur, 10 studs, a 50 feet stone apron on five furlongs and recouping of 30 feet stone apron would be Rs737 million, said a source.

“At present, except for a J-spur, the rest of the spurs are not working properly, therefore, we had proposed the construction of T-shaped spur at 2/6 location along with 10 studs to divert the course of the river,” he said.

Sindh Assembly speaker Nisar Ahmed Khuhro expressed dissatisfaction over the pace of work on 50 feet stone apron after visiting the dyke recently.

Talking to this correspondent, he said: “We exactly don’t have any idea how much the apron will be effective against a deluge in future.”

He had asked the chief engineer concerned to send him a list of pre-qualified contractors so as to award the contract but it had still not been done, he said.

He said that 10 studs should have been completed within a month had the irrigation department awarded the contract. “Time is running out and necessary steps should be taken on a war footing,” he said.

An expert Allah Warayo Channa who is on the committee had initially proposed construction of three spurs at three locations (2/6, 0/4 and 0/7 miles) of the Akil-Aghani bund but later the proposal was changed to only one T-shaped spur at 2/6 mile location and 10 studs, said the sources.

The government, meanwhile, has transferred executive engineer of the bund Nisar Ahmed Leghari who had been working on it since last year’s floods and replaced him with Mohammad Hassan Memon from the hydrology section, said the sources.

The sources said that the contractor and the engineer had developed differences over the work at the outset of the dyke’s restoration work.

According to Nisar Leghari, the contractor was using stones dumped at the site during floods but wanted to show them as newly acquired and receive money as their cost while the contractor had accused the official of demanding ‘commission’.

As the work gets delayed another development has increased risks for the dyke’s safety. Two small islands have appeared in the river, which have reduced the length of the riverbed and will direct water course to the dyke itself.

An irrigation official said on condition of anonymity that due to these islands, the river would strike between two portions (2/0 to 2/6 miles’ points) of Akil-Aghani bund in future.

The 10 police pickets Sindh chief minister had ordered to be set up at the site during his visit two weeks ago had not yet been established. But number of policemen at the only police post already set up there had been increased, said officials of the irrigation department.

Sindh secretary of irrigation Rafique Ahmed Memon said that he was satisfied with the pace of work and said he “we have enough funds to go by the plan and will get (more) funds as per commitment of federal and provincial governments over the time”.

He expressed confidence the task would be completed in time. More than 125 stone-loaded trucks were arriving at the site regularly and work was in full swing, he said.

Sindh government’s consultant for rehabilitation of flood-ravaged dykes, Idress Rajput, and Sindh Minister for Food Mir Nadir Ali Magsi, who is member of a special committee tasked with monitoring repair of dykes across the province, recently visited the Akil-Aghani dyke and declared it more dangerous than Tori dyke.