April 2, 2003	Wednesday	Muharram 29, 1424

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BADIN, April 1: On the call of growers’ organizations and political parties, strike was observed in Shaheed Fazil Rahu taluka on Tuesday against the acute shortage of irrigation water in the taluka for the last six months.

Early in the morning, thousands of people gathered at the Fazil Rahu Chowk. They also staged a sit-in on the Badin-Karachi Highway for over five hours.

MPA Ali Nawaz Chandio, taluka Nazim Mohammad Aslam Rahu and Nazims, Naib Nazims and councillors of eight union councils joined the sit-in.

They said the Sindh irrigation department had failed to ensure water supply to farmers and warned if water was not supplied to the taluka they would enlarge the scope of their protest.

Terming the water shortage artificial, they said their share of water had been diverted to a border district.

They said the persistent water shortage had compelled many people to migrate to other areas.

They demanded the chief engineer, Kotri Barrage, should be immediately transferred and water supply to the taluka should be restored.

The protest was called off after SIDA director Abdul Ghafoor and DCO Mumtaz Memon Badin arrived and assured the protesters the chief engineer would be transferred and water supply to the taluka would be restored.

The protesters formed an action committee to plan protest demonstrations if their problems were not resolved.