SIALKOT-Both of the main canals originating from River Chenab - Bambaanwala-Ravi-Baidian (BRB) Canal and Marala-Ravi-Link (MR Link) Canal near Head Marala have been lying closed for the past four days here.
According to the Sialkot based senior officials of the Irrigation department both of the main canals namely BRB Canal Daska and MR Link Canal Daska will remain closed till May 5, for de-silting and repair work.
According to a survey conducted by this reporter, banks on both sides of three major canals - BRB canal near Daska, MR Link Canal near Jaamkey Cheema-Motra-Pasrur and Upper Chenab Canal near Saahowala-Sambrial have been dilapidated condition and are in dire need of repair. It has been learnt that banks of these canals have never been repaired since its construction in the British regime prior to the partition of the Indo-Pak Sub-Continent.
These dilapidating banks-cum-roads are very narrow and travelling on it could be a dangerous venture. All the federal, provincial and district governments have never bothered to allocate even a single penny for the direly needed repair to the banks-cum-roads. It takes more than one hour to travel a distance of about four kilometres (from Main Canal Bridge to village Raja Ghumaan) on the dilapidated banks of BRB canal Daska.
Several spots of the banks along these canals are also very narrow and there is no fencing on both sides of banks along BRB canal, MR Link Canal and Upper Chenab Canal. The travelling on these banks has already been declared dangerous, but, the irrigation department has never taken any practical step to halt traveling on these narrow and dangerous banks of the canal.
When contacted, the officials concerned of Sialkot Irrigation Department claimed that the Highway Department was responsible for the work while the Highway Department officials held the Irrigation Department responsible for the situation.