Nara Canal
The Nara Canal is a deepened delta channel of the Indus River in Sindh province, Pakistan. It was
built as an excavated channel stemming off the left bank of the Indus River to join the course of the
old Nara River.[1][2] The canal runs from above the Sukkur Barrage through the districts
of Khairpur, Sanghar, Mirpurkhas and Tharparkar to the Jamrao Canal.[3] The Nara is the longest
canal in Pakistan, running for about 226 mi (364 km). It has a designed capacity of 13,602 cu ft/s
(385.2 m3/s), but actually discharges 14,145 cu ft/s (400.5 m3/s). About 2,000,000 acres (8,100 km2)
of land are irrigated by this canal.[4] Within the Khairpur District, the canal and its associated wetlands
were made into the Nara Game Reserve in 1972.
The Eastern Nara was an inundation canal with its source of supply from the foot of the Punjab Hills.
After traversing Bahawalpur, it used to enter into the present Nara Canal a few miles downstream of
its present head. In those days, the Indus River used to overflow in Bahawalpur and Sind Province
above Rohri and the spillovers used to enter the Nara River. Bunds were constructed by the
Bahawalpur state authorities to protect their lands against floods and spillovers, which reduced the
flood intensities into the Nara River. Similarly, due to low flows in the Indus River in certain years,
the Nara River did not get much water. Therefore, the Nara supply channel was excavated in 1858-
59 to directly supply water from the Indus river. The supply channel was excavated by 2.5 feet in
1884-85 and by a further 3.5 feet in 1893.[5]
Chotiari Dam is located in the catchment area of the Nara Canal. The Nara Canal drains in
to Shakoor Lake before overflowing into Kori Creek of the Great Rann of Kutch. This delta channel
or river is known as the Puran River or the Koree River in its lower reaches.
As per the original design, Sukkur Barrage had the flood passage capacity of 1.5 million cusec
because right bank canals were drawing excessive silt, 10 gates were permanently closed for silt
control in 1940.
there have been 11 flood events at Sukkur Barrage surpassing 0.9 million cusec, six of which
were more than 1.1 million cusecs. The maximum flood was as large as 1.2 million cusecs in
1976
Is it a fact that 13 gates of Sukkur Barrage are closed;
(a) It is stated that the inauguration of Sukkur Barrage was on 24-10-1923 by Sir George
Lloyd Governor of Bombay. The construction work was carried out from 1923 to 1932
and opening ceremony performed on 13th January 1932.
(b) Sukkur Barrage commissioned in 1932, experienced several problems of excessive
silting in the right bank canals. Extensive modeling was carried out in 1942 by
construction of Right Pocket River Training works which solved the problem of
excessive siltation into the canals but resulted in reduction of design discharge from
15 lac cusecs to 9 lac cusecs.
The history of repairs to damages with the passage of time are detailed below:
1949 Cracks in upstream pier Plaster below gate Arch, restored with RCC
Jacketing.
1950 to 1956 Cracks in the soffit of RCC Arches, repaired through
guniting/shotcreting.
1958 to 1966 re-emergence of racks in RCC Arches.
1982 Collapsing of Gate No.31 and its immediate replacement.
1986 to 1992 Replacement of all Barrage gates Rehabilitation Project.
2004 The real threat to the Barrage during its life of 72 years was the
development of a large scour hole in the Right Pocket in2014, damaging a
part of the barrage foundation, which was also restored, repaired through
FWO.
The increasing floods due to Climate Change effects, specially in the 2010 flood
of 1.13 Million cusecs, highlighted the vulnerability of the Barrage. The
feasibility study for the project “Rehabilitation and Modernization of Sukkur
Barrage” was awarded on 20th October 2011 to the Joint Venture of
consultants:-
Atkins International, UK.
Associated Consulting Engineers-ACE, Karachi.
National Development Consultant-NDC, Lahore.
The Scope of works included identification of works to ensure that the Barrage
is safe during lows, extreme flows and during flushing operations (including
civil repair works, gates and mechanical works, improvement in
instrumentation and control and electrical works), reduce excessive sediment
entry into canals and update the operation and monitoring of the barrage.
The study is in progress under World Bank.
It is apprised that after construction of Sukkur Barrage, within 2 years the
sedimentation problems of excessive silt entry into right bank canals were
observed and sandy dunes formed in front of head regulators inside right
pocket. The Right Bank Canals could not take the design discharge, therefore
the model study were carried out at Puna in 1938 to rectify the problem. The
River raining works were proposed in the light of model study report and same
were completed in 1940-42.
A result of model study 10 gates were closed as per requirement of technical
report not 13 gates, from gate no.6 to 14 and gate no.23 was closed
permanently, formed an island and construct a submerged weir to direct the
excessive silt entry from right pocket. Furthermore, except above 10 gates all 56
gates are working, functioning properly.
