KARACHI, April 2: Sindh National Front has expressed surprise over the report that the government is withdrawing subsidy on tubewells.

Terming it a cruel joke, the SNF chief, Nawab Sardar Mumtaz Ali Bhutto, pointed out that in Sindh, no subsidy had been given on tubewells, and if restrains were placed on their installation to maintain the subsoil water level, Sindh would again become the desert it was before the Sukkur Barrage was built in 1933.

Mr Bhutto said: “There is no water in River Indus and if tubewells are disallowed, there will be no cultivation anywhere. The solution is to ensure the proper supply of water from Punjab into Sindh, as has historically been the case. This will prevent the crisis of drinking water that exists today and remove other complaints as well.”

He flayed the government for taking no notice of the shortage of water for the last 5 years, that has laid two million acres of kutcha land in Sindh barren. He added that only 5 per cent of this land had been cultivated on tubewells and pumps.

The SNF chief stated that the unbearable losses of crops, forests and cattle in the kutcha area had already taken place and if even tubewells were not allowed, then where should the population of the kutcha area go?

Comparing the situation to India, he said that as opposed to restricting tubewells in Pakistan, tubewells in India were being encouraged and installed free-of-cost, while power was supplied at the heavily-subsidised rate of only Rs100 a month.

This had led to tremendous increase in food production and improvement in the standard of living.

“In Pakistan, if we are not capable of taking any initiative in improving conditions, we should at least copy our neighbours,” he advised and warned that the construction of greater Thal Canal was illegal and would cause great harm to the solidarity of the country.

“The 9,000 cusecs of water that it will take will all go from the share of Sindh. It may be noted that the Thal Canal is taking double the amount of water that Punjab is said to have recently released as a favour to Sindh, although the volume of 5,000 cusecs will evaporate before reaching Guddu, Mr Bhutto warned.