[Pictorial] Latest from spillway of the dammed Hunza River
Our Correspondent, Photos: Ali Rehmat Musofer
Frontier Works Organization (FWO), the engineering arm of Pakistan Army, has blocked spillway of the dammed Hunza River for the second time this year. Currently the 1-kilometer long spillway is being dug and deepened to allow increased flow of water out of the dammed river.
It is pertinent to note that the previous excavation effort had borne good results, leading to significant drop in the water level in upstream areas.
The Hunza River was blocked on January 4 2010 when a large portion of the Attabad village slid into the gorge, killing 19 people and making thousands homeless. The blockade of the gorge also led to severing of the strategic Karakuram Highway.
Through the excavation efforts the FWO plans to lower the water level by 100 feet (33 meters). According to media reports the temporary blockade will be removed through blasting by 10th of May.
No doubt it is very difficult task to releas at once the dammed water but if the intentions are pure and honesty is there than it is not difficult, for the last two months FWO worked hard and showed some results we appreciat their efforts in this regard and are thankful for this noble job with this hope to bring down the level of water below the hight of Ayeen Abad.
One seriously wonders why it has taken over TWO years to deepen the channel?. FWO has failed!. The entire country is suffering due to lesser water flow and no road access to China since past 26 months.
All we see here is the cofferdam. What really counts is how much the channel has been deepened at the upper part of the spillway. Eventually we will see when the cofferdam is removed in the nexy several days. I hope that this time the slabs underlying the upper spillway have been definitively broken up so that water can carry away the obstruction.