Pakistan opens headwork gates for water to flow into its area from India

On Wednesday, 192,000 cusecs of water were reported at Hussainiwala, which is flowing into Pakistan

Pakistan has opened the gates of the Suleiman Headworks of the Sutlej to allow the gushing water to flow into its territory from India.

Officials from the state irrigation department said that this has helped control the havoc that the gushing river waters flowing downstream from Harike would have created if Pakistan had kept the gates closed.
 

According to a report in The Tribune, on Wednesday, 192,000 cusecs of water was reported at Hussainiwala, which is flowing into Pakistan.

Senu Duggal, deputy commissioner of Fazilka, said that Sutlej has been overflowing with water coming from the Sirsa, the Siswan, the Sangrao, the Budhki, and the Swan rivers. It created havoc in most districts of Malwa for the past five days.

He added that the situation could have been worse if the neighbouring country had closed its gates near Fazilka, but the water is now flowing into Pakistan territory.

H S Mehndiratta, chief engineer, Drainage, Punjab, said that major damage in south Malwa had been averted due to the gates remaining open.

On Wednesday, a water level of 214,000 cusecs was recorded at Harike on the Sutlej, from where the river first meanders into Pakistan before re-entering India and then again flowing into Pakistan near Hussainiwala. At Hussainiwala, the water then reduced to 192,000 cusecs.

Around 50,000 cusecs of water will be released towards the neighbouring country.

Krishan Kumar, principal secretary, irrigation, said, “The department had informed the Centre two days back which, in turn, would have informed the Permanent Indus Commission Commissioner, as per international protocol.”

While the water level of the Ghaggar continued to recede in Patiala, the water is moving towards Sardulgarh, where 15,040 cusecs of water was recorded.