DADU, July 16: The irrigation department has decided to take action against water thieves under the Irrigation Act without seeking the assistance of police as the local police is not cooperating with the department.

This was said by the Sindh secretary for irrigation, Mir Mohammad Parhiar, while talking to newsmen at the irrigation rest house and talking to growers during his visit to Nara Distry here on Tuesday.

He said he had appointed special teams of engineers in every division to stop water theft.

He said if the teams found any watercourse tampered with, they would seal the watercourses under the Irrigation Act and stern action would be taken against the officials concerned.

Mr Parhiar said the Johi Branch and the Dadu Canal were only meant for dry crops but growers were cultivating other crops which, he said, was illegal.

He said there was not shortage of water for irrigation purpose in the canals originating from Sukkur Barrage, including the Dadu Canal, Rice Canal, Johi Branch, and the canals were receiving due share of water according to their designs.

The irrigation secretary said that to eliminate the water shortage in the waterways originating from Johi Branch, Rice Canal and the Dadu Canal, the department had completed the desilting programmes in the waterways, specially the Nara Distry in Khairpur Nathan Shah area.

He said the rotation system had been withdrawn in majority of the divisions of the irrigation department due to the improvement in water flow at the end of waterways.

Mr Parhiar said that on the demand of small growers, he had directed the chief engineer, Sukkur Barrage, and the superintending engineer, Larkana, to establish camps in Dadu till the water level was restored.

He said he had visited various waterways in the district and had directed the local officials to ensure due water share to the tail-end growers and stop water theft, otherwise their services would be terminated.