Change in Indus course accelerates erosion of Ruk loop bund.

LARKANA -- The unabated erosion of Ruk loop dyke due to mounting pressure of water current in the wake of visible shift in the course of Indus River towards right bank, 65 kilometres from here in Shikarpur district, is a disaster in the making if timely intervention is not made to avert the threat.

This correspondent visited the 'most vulnerable' portion of the dyke as described by the villagers on Monday and noted that continuous erosion had left the loop bund just 100 feet away from the last defense line while the distance must be at least 1,000 feet from the dyke according to Bund Manual, said an irrigation official.

Shahnawaz Abro, a retired station master, said that the two dykes had already washed away during previous floods. If the department delayed construction of spurs, the huge current in the river during flood season could play havoc with the area, said Amir Ali Abro, a retired ticket checker, who had seen the bund washed away when he was 12 years old.

'God forbid! If it the dyke breached the river water will directly rush to Larkana and then go to Sehwan Sharif. This is extraordinary situation which demands extraordinary measures,' they said.

Timely intervention vital to help avert a disaster, say residents of nearby villages

The deflection of the river course had developed a big island and the river current was presently striking at ninety degrees angles after taking a snake's turn, said a former executive engineer Syed Habibullah Shah.

The threat to the loop bund would further escalate due to change in the river course caused by illegal constructions on the left bank of the river, said a source in irrigation department. Now the river had changed its course from left to right and increased vulnerability of the right bank, said the locals.

Ruk Loop Bund, located on the right side at downstream of Sukkur barrage in Lakhi taluka, Shikarpur district, had been constructed as the second line of defense behind Ghumra Loop Bund and Sehwan-Larkana Bund during 1960-61 in the wake of active erosion of the bank opposite Ghumra bund, said Muhktiar Abro, superintendent engineer of the irrigation department.

The Ruk bund became the first line of defense during Abkalani of 1973 when Ghumra Loop Bund was eroded away at mile 6/3 and the reach of Ghumra and Sehwan-Larkana Bunds was de-commissioned, leaving the Ruk bund to act as the first line of defense since then, he said.

After unabated river erosion four spurs were constructed along Ruk bund...