January 8, 2002	Tuesday	Shawwal 23, 1422

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SUKKUR, Jan 7: The city of Sukkur is facing acute water shortage as the River Indus has almost dried up at the Sukkur Barrage and the canals originating from here have been closed for winter.

The local municipal authorities have advised citizens to store water and use it carefully from Jan 6 to 20.

It is feared that the period could be extended due to persistent water shortage.

The irrigation authorities have demanded Rs25 million for the maintenance of canals from the Sindh government which is not being granted to them.

The refusal of the Sindh government would hamper the water flow, claimed the executive engineer of Sukkur Barrage, Salahuddin Abbasi, while talking to Dawn.

Thus the closure period of the canals could be further extended to Jan 30, he added.

Meanwhile, very poor water flow in the river has led to an acute water shortage in the municipal reservoir and the municipal corporation has told the people to store water and use it with care.

The authorities have installed suction pumps on the left bank at Bakhar Island for getting water for the city needs.

The DCO, Sukkur, Nisar Ahmed Siddiqi has prepared a plan and handed it over to the public health engineering department, in which the construction of a jetty has been proposed for meeting the water needs of the city.

According to official figures, there is 76 per cent water shortage in the River Indus at Sukkur these days. If rains do not fall, the water reservoirs in Punjab would also be empty by February leaving no water for Sindh.

It would badly affect the agriculture of Sindh as wheat crop would need water then, said some growers.

PROBE: The irrigation department, Sukkur, has initiated a probe into several cases of misappropriation, embezzlement, fraud and irregularity in the department, Dawn has learnt authoritatively.

The probe has been begun by the chief engineer of Sukkur Barrage, Mohammed Moosa, who also sent a letter to the Sindh finance secretary, seeking halt to the delivery of second instalment of fund for regulator maintenance of Khairpur East, Khairpur West, N.W. Canal, Rice Canal, Dadu Canal, Rohri Canal and Nara Canal.

The probe was launched in response to the public complaints with the Sindh irrigation minister about the misuse of the funds for remodelling their water courses by different executive engineers of several circles.

Another scandal surfaced when 760 ghost Beldars were found drawing salaries from the M&DR funds.

When this correspondent contacted the officials of the irrigation department, they declined to comment on the matter saying the inquiries were under progress in the cases.