00:00 The same areas that they spent $12 million on, every single site failed.
00:03 After severe flooding led to major breaches along the South Uruput River last year,
00:09 the Ministry of Works spent millions of dollars repairing sections of the banks.
00:14 But we're told that within days, the new banks began to slump.
00:19 And today, what started out as 16 to 20 feet wide now stands at 2 to 4 feet in some locations,
00:28 causing serious fear among farmers and residents in the area.
00:32 "The tri-gattle drung last year and just with this breach, 220 meters of breach,
00:38 that is a lot of water going to be flowing into Kanhai-Lal trace, Centeno trace, Akalu trace,
00:44 the whole of the Pluck Road, Main Road, and these areas are going to be flooded out like never
00:49 before. This is one of the sites, when the contractor left, everything failed, it went
00:54 back down, there was no big flood to cause this, it failed."
00:58 We were shown at least four sites where, in the event of heavy rainfall,
01:03 Moody believes the banks will be breached and cause water to rush into nearby villages.
01:09 Along the river, there are two areas where it narrows from 80 feet wide down to 12 feet.
01:17 "Heavy equipment, they were brought in during the rainy season at that time to fix the banks.
01:22 And what that did is actually force the mud under the bank and it used the area of least resistance
01:29 and it came back up, similar to what happened on the creek on the highway. So what we have here now
01:34 is almost no river. Boats cannot come up here during low tide, they are going to get stuck."
01:42 "This will be 50, 40, 50 feet. What's right here now?
01:45 One foot, two foot of water some places.
01:48 Sheer water river, we call it a drain."
01:53 "Where's the water going to go? It is going to back up into Pinal and Debe,
01:58 so people who live here learn to swim. This has to be taken out of the river,
02:03 it has to be done now we are in the dry season."
02:06 Moody says immediate intervention with better engineering is desperately needed.
02:12 A call supported by Mayor of Separia, Dudnat Meru.
02:16 "I saw yesterday that we are expecting an early rainy season by mid-May,
02:20 so this leaves us with only two months to get work going on here. Everybody is aware what happens in
02:27 Pluck Road and Environs and Rahama Trace and these areas, these low-lying areas all up to Pinal and
02:32 Barakpur when it rains down here. And I think the ministry has failed and should take the
02:38 responsibility to deal with the breaches along this river here."
02:42 We contacted the Minister of Works Rohan Sinhanan on the issues raised,
02:46 but up to news time did not receive a response.
02:49 Sindhi Raghubar Tika Singh, TV6 News.
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