Sindh Irrigation Minister Jam Khan Shoro has said that Sukkur Barrage The flowing water has been stopped by constructing a ‘Cofferdam’ at the broken gate no.
Speaking to Independent Urdu, Jam Khan Shoro said: ‘It has happened for the first time in the history of Pakistan that in the month of June when Sukkur Barrage Indus River I have one lakh cusecs of water, in such a case, a new history has been made by building a Kufar dam and re-watering the canals in such a short period of time.
Department of Sindh Province with the support of the World Bank sprinkling water In April 2024, the ‘Rehabilitation and Modernization Project’ to replace all the gates except for the repair of the Sukkur Barrage, was undertaken by the Irrigation Department’s subsidiary, the ‘Sindh Barrages Improvement Project’.
During repairs, gate number 47 of the Sukkur barrage collapsed on the evening of June 20, which officials said was caused by a ‘tree hitting’ the overflowing water.
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After which the Irrigation Department imposed an emergency on the Sukkur Barrage and closed the road passing above the barrage for all types of traffic while all the gates of the barrage were opened to reduce the water pressure on the remaining gates. Also, it can be seen how much damage was done to Gate No. 47.
Similarly, the supply of water to all the seven canals originating from Sukkur Barrage was also stopped, of which four namely Nara Canal, Rohri Canal, Khairpur Feeder East and Khairpur Feeder West on the left side of the barrage while three canals on the right side Dadu Canal. , Rice Canal and North West Canal supplying water to Balochistan.
Kharif crops are being sown in Sindh at this time and the blocking of canals was being criticized as irreparable damage to Sindh’s agriculture.
According to Jam Khan Shoro: ‘Within a short period of five to six days, not only was the flow of water from Gate No. 47 stopped by constructing a Kufar dam, but the kharif crop was also saved by restarting the canals. ‘
What is Coffer Dam?
According to retired Sukkur Barrage engineer Sattar Sario, a cofferdam is a temporary watertight structure, which is built to dry a specific area under water so that some kind of repair or construction work can be done there.
Speaking to Independent Urdu, Sattar Sario said: ‘To construct a new bridge or to repair an existing bridge across a canal, river or sea, it is necessary to dry the section so that engineers and laborers can build or construct it with machinery. Can repair. A structure constructed in the form of a dam to drain a specific area under water is called a coffer dam.
He added that this structure is mainly used during the construction or repair of bridges, dams or other water structures. The water inside the Kufar dam is drained and dried, making it easier for workers and machinery to work.’
According to Sattar Sario, a coffer dam usually consists of steel, wooden or concrete panels that prevent water from entering. Sand is used instead of clay to build this dam because clay washes away with water, while sand becomes stronger.
How was the Coffer Dam constructed at Gate 47 of Sukkur Barrage?
Director of ‘Sindh Barrages Improvement Project’, Ghulam Mohiuddin Mughal, told Independent Urdu that after the collapse of Gate 47, water was continuously flowing, due to which it was not possible to repair the gate or install a new gate. There was no other way to stop the flow of water, so the Kuffer Dam was built.’
He further said that ‘the last week of December is chosen to replace or repair any gate of the barrage, at that time there is an annual closure and the water in the river is low, but this was an accident, so In June, the Kufar Dam had to be built despite the high flow of water in the Indus River.
According to Irrigation Minister Jam Khan Shoro, this Kufar Dam has been constructed in front of Gate No. 47 in the downstream of Sukkur Barrage.
He further informed that Sukkur Barrage’s gate is 60 feet long and 21 feet high, which means that 21 feet of standing water was dammed with the help of sacks to build the Koffer Dam, which was a very difficult task.
According to Jam Shoro, with the help of a crane, each sack of three thousand sacks of sand weighing two and a half tons was taken under 21 feet of water and the Kufar dam was built.
“The shipyard is building a new gate which we will get by July 20, after which the new gate will be installed,” he said.
In this March 23, 2021 photo, local sailors and volunteers are seen on a boat in the Indus River near Sukkur (AFP)
According to Ghulam Mohiuddin Mughal, after the construction of Kufar Dam, it will be closed with the help of ‘caisson gate’. (A caisson gate is a movable gate on any barrage, used as a temporary gate to repair or replace a gate on the barrage).
According to Ghulam Mohiuddin Mughal: ‘After the construction of Kufar Dam, the water inside the dam is being pumped out, after which the engineers will first remove the broken parts of the old gate and then the gate number 47 will break and fall down. The old gate should be repaired and installed temporarily, when the new gate comes, then it will be installed.
The new gate is being built at Karachi Shipyard. How will this 21 feet high and 60 feet long gate be brought from Karachi to Sukkur barrage? In response to this, Ghulam Mohiuddin Mughal said that ‘this gate is made in six parts, which will be installed easily by bringing Sukkur barrage from Karachi.’
Under this project, the first and historic Sukkur Barrage to be constructed on the Indus River will be repaired and 56 gates will be replaced out of a total of 66 gates.
New automatic gates will be installed at Sukkur Barrage
The gates at Sukkur Barrage are opened and closed manually instead of an automatic system. If one gate of the barrage weighs 80 tons, then a weight of 80 tons is attached to the other side of it.
To open or close the gate, the barrage staff open or close the gate by lowering the weight attached to the other side of the gate with the help of the machines on top of the barrage.
According to Jam Khan Shoro: ‘It has been almost 100 years since the construction of Sukkur Barrage. Now the barrage cannot bear that much weight, so the new gates being installed now will not have a parallel weight on the other side.
‘These new gates will be machine-lifted instead of parallel weights being moved up and down by hand, which will reduce the weight on the barrage and increase its life.’
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2024-10-04 12:05:29
