June 17, 2002	Monday	Rabi-us-Sani 5, 1423

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SANGHAR, June 16: The farmers of Shahdadpur and Tando Adam talukas have expressed their disappointment over the government’s announcement regarding calamity-hit areas and said that there seemed to be some sort of victimization in pinpointing the affected areas.

Growers of the two talukas told this correspondent during a visit to the area that a vast land in these talukas had been worst-hit by water shortage and a famine-like situation prevailed there.

They maintained that these talukas were kept out of the list of calamity-hit areas to deprive the PPP-majority areas of the package announced by the president. They pointed out that Nazims of both the talukas were affiliated to the Awam Dost group.

The growers feeding their lands through Baboorchan, Lundo Shakh, Shahpur Chakar Minor and Jamrao Canal said that they were receiving not a drop of water for several months during the harvesting season. Cultivators of lands receiving water through Lundo Shakh said that they were supplied water for only three weeks over a period of five months.

One of the growers from Deh Shuja Jakhro, near Shahdadpur, maintained that he could irrigate only 10 acres out of his 600-acre land due to the water shortage.

He further said that some dehs of Shahdadpur and Tando Adam were as much affected as the calamity-hit areas of Sinjhoro, Sanghar, Khipro and Jam Nawaz Ali.

Areas in UCs Lundo, Sarhari, Gupchani, Barhoon, Shahpur Chakar and Manak Thaheem have also been worst-affected with an estimated 70 per cent of crop having been damage there.

The growers indicated that a certain portion of Shahdadpur and Tando Adam talukas had escaped damage as water to that area was being supplied through Rohri Canal while the remaining areas were under the command of Jamrao Canal. The tail-end areas of Nusrat Canal were equally affected, they added.

The situation, they said, aggravated further due to over-exploitation of underground water. Even the tubewells in these areas have become brackish and water table has went down, they added.

The growers said that hand-pumps, installed in many areas, did not fetch water.

They appealed to the president, the governor of Sindh and other relevant authorities to order a survey to verify their claim and include their lands in the list of calamity-hit areas.