LARKANA: The situation at Moria Loop Bund, on the right bank of the Indus, opposite Naudero town, is turning critical due to widening curvature of the river. The problem surfaced at S-L (Sukkur-Larkana) Bund Mile 40/3 to 40/4+50 at Moria Loop Bund Zero, said Nadeem Jaffery, sub-engineer irrigation at the site on Monday.

In the first spell of ongoing monsoon rain on July 31, when flow at the site was 315,000 cusecs, about 150-feet apron was launched which prompted the irrigation department to kick off flood fighting, he said.

During another spell on August 16, at the midnight, when current was measured at 135,000 cusecs, a portion of417 feet was launched. `Whenever a stone apron is launched, it widens the curvature of the river at this point,` the executive engineer of Northern Dadu Division (dykes) Jamil Ahmed Sangi said. Another portion of this apron on Moria Loop Bund (having a length of one mile and two furlongs) measuring 700 feet was launched during 2024, the chief engineer of the right bank of River Indus Mukhtiar Abro said.

The total length of the apron was 1,430 feet and after launching in different phases, only 163 feet was left to bear the pressure of the current, said the sub-engineer on Monday. It was being recouped, he said.

Now as per the irrigation authority, the situation at the dyke is `critical` due to the launching of a big portion of the existing apron, situated veryclose to a damaged T-Spur constructed in 2017.

The only option left with the irrigation department was to dump stones in heavy quantities to make it stable enough tosustainthefuture onslaughtin the shape of rise in water flow.

So far 250 trucks full of stones brought in from Aror had been dumped at the site to strengthen it and the process was continuing, said the chief engineer.Quite astonishing is the fact that the entire emergency work is being carried out with empty hands as, sources in the department said, `not a single penny has been released for the purpose so far`.