BADIN: There are high chances of clashes between the proponents and opponents of cutting the Left Bank Outfall Drain (LBOD) ridge on RD 211 in Badin. More than 500 people on each side are staging a sit-in on the Thar Coal Road, with police standing as a boundary wall. And it has been more than 24 hours.

The pro-group, whose at least 300 villages were affected, has maintained that the cut in RD 211 Sem Nullah would rapidly lead water towards natural waterways and it would subside from their villages. But, it would inundate different union councils of Tando Bhago and Tharparkar. This led to the formation of the anti-cut group.

Traffic from Badin to Tharparkar has been suspended. The track further leads to Karachi from Islam Kot.

The proponents of the cut had moved forward from Khoski Bypass on Friday near the Shadi Lodge with an aim to make the cut if the government was not willing to do it. And the opponents of cutting were protesting at the Navy Chak Mor in front of the Bilal Cheema Petrol Pump. Both are at the Thar Coal Road. Many members of both groups are armed and have batons.

So far the talks led by Agha Shahnawaz Khan, the Badin deputy commissioner, and the SSP have failed to appease the pro-cut group. The 10-member committee was not fully convinced as some members opposed the idea to have an alternate route for water drainage.

They are adamant to have a cut on RD 211 in order to drain water from their areas.

“It is not possible,” Shanawaz said and offered a substitute route like a door to have a cut to drain water even in small amounts in order to ensure a minimum loss.

Around 20 to 25 police mobile vans of Badin and Tharparkar districts are deployed on the road. There is a one-kilometer distance between the two sides. The anti-cut group, which had vowed to shed blood for the cause, has made fronts on the road.

One of the members of the anti-group said that they came to know about the people reaching from Pangrio and Juddu on tractor trolleys to break the embankment at the Zero Point through social media.

He vowed that they would block the Thar Coal Road if the opposing group tried to make the cut. The protestor lamented the administration’s “response”, saying that the Badin authority should have stopped them at the Khalifo Qasim.

What’s the background?

Tando Bhago is the tehsil of Badin. Its boundary is connected with Jhuddo, which is a Mirpurkhas city. Sem Nullah, Pran Sem Nullah travels through Jhuddo, Mirpurkhas Main Drain (MMD), which meets at Pran Sem Nullah in Badin.

Juddho and Mirpurkhas are completely flooded. After this, all the water pressure was coming to the LBOD through the Pran Sem Nullah. A crack had appeared near Malkani Sharif city in Tando Bhago around 20 days ago, prompting people to protest against it. They claimed that it was intentionally made.

After two days, it was confirmed that a person from Sanghar had come to make the cut. His ID card and clothes supported the claim. A first information report (FIR) was registered against him and nine others.

The administration had not filled the gap even after 20 days and so far it has flooded 300 villages of six union councils of Tando Bhago. Residents have been displaced to other areas. The water meets at the LBOD Sem Nullah. There is a natural watercourse 211 RD from where it travels through different areas of the Tharparkar district and reaches the river. Just because such natural ways were occupied, it has led to an increase in the water flow, however, it was going slowly to the river.