Sukkur barrage upgrade halts water supply to farmers

ARY NEWS

Transcript

00:00We have received disturbing news about the Sakhar Barrage that the doors were being changed.

00:07Three days ago, an accident happened and the gate no. 47 fell down during the repair work.

00:14Due to the fall of the gate and the pillars of the door no. 43,

00:18if you look at the barrage, there are different gates and those gates are opened.

00:23And as per the requirement, the water is allowed to pass through.

00:28And they are quite heavy.

00:30They are quite heavy, obviously, because they withstand the pressure of the water.

00:33These are not ordinary doors of your house, these are the gates of the barrage.

00:37Now, the repair work of the doors is going on by stopping the water supply.

00:41And then the water supply has been stopped to the rivers.

00:44Now, the impact of this is that the crops of rice, sugarcane and cotton are at risk

00:50because about 70% of the agricultural land of Sindh is irrigated from this barrage.

00:57Now, when the crops are at risk, what will happen?

01:02So, let's find out how far the repair work has reached and how soon it will be completed.

01:08Our representative, Salim, is present from there.

01:10So, Salim, tell us, what is the estimate?

01:13First of all, tell us how much damage has been done.

01:15Secondly, how far has the repair work reached?

01:20Yes, absolutely. First of all, I would like to tell you about the repair work.

01:25Two gates of the barrage were damaged on 20th June.

01:27Gate no. 47 was stuck in the water, while gate no. 44 was bent.

01:3390,000 cc of water was passing through it, due to which both the doors were damaged.

01:38After both the doors were damaged, an emergency was initiated on the barrage.

01:42The repair work of the doors was started on the basis of the impact.

01:46First, it was given 72 hours, but it was completed yesterday evening.

01:50Till now, the gate no. 44 is being tried to be removed,

01:54while gate no. 47, when all the doors of the barrage were opened,

01:58it was visible on the surface of the water,

02:00after which it was found that half of the plate,

02:03half of the door was broken and fell down.

02:05The repair work of half of the plate could not be started.

02:08Here, a caisson gate will be brought and placed in front of gate no. 47.

02:12A coffer dam will be built.

02:14After that, gate no. 47 will be repaired.

02:17While, the plate of gate no. 44 is being tried to be placed there.

02:21After both the doors were damaged,

02:23all the 56 doors of Sakkhar Barrage were completely opened.

02:26The surface of the water was leveled in the upstream and downstream.

02:29After that, the repair work started.

02:31Now, if we talk about the damage,

02:337 canals pass from Sakkhar Barrage to the right bank and left bank,

02:36which irrigate about 80 lakh acres of land.

02:40This land is more than 70% of the land of Sindh.

02:44As soon as all the doors were opened,

02:47the water level was reduced in the canals on the left and right banks.

02:52As a result, the crop of papaya and sugarcane on the left bank,

02:55which is a ready crop, is not getting water.

02:58Because of this, there is a risk of loss.

03:00On the right bank, there are three canals,

03:02Dadu canal, Keerthar canal and Rice canal.

03:04Since July 1, rice crops are harvested there.

03:09So, that is also a risk of severe impact.

03:13When the Minister of Agriculture was asked by the press conference,

03:16how long will this water reach those canals and how much damage will it cause?

03:20He said that we cannot estimate the damage,

03:23but this loss can be in billions of rupees.

03:25Yesterday, the Minister of Agriculture

03:27made 32 committees in Hyderabad

03:31which will also estimate the damage.

03:33How much will be the loss of the crops that have been harvested?

03:38And how will it be reduced?

03:39The repair work of gate no. 47 and gate no. 44 has already started.

03:44Gate no. 44 will be repaired there.

03:47For gate no. 47, there is a caisson gate

03:50which is half a kilometre away from the upper stream of Sakhar Bairaj.

03:53It has been trying to be repaired for three days.

03:55But since the water level in Sakhar Bairaj is low,

03:58when the water level increases,

04:00the caisson gate will be able to reach gate no. 47.

04:02Thank you very much, Salim Chaito.

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