August 24, 2003	Sunday	Jumadi-us-Sani 25

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HYDERABAD, Aug 23: The Sindh Abadgar Board has expressed concern over the closure of canals taking off from the Kotri Barrage.

In a statement faxed to Dawn here on Saturday, SAB president Abdul Majeed Nizamani said the closure of canals would badly affect crops which were already damaged by the recent rains.

He observed that floods at tail-end areas of canals had caused devastation but crops were mostly affected by shortage of water.

He said there were two to four regulators in each channel but the irrigation department still did not supply water to areas where it was urgently needed.

About the Sukkur Barrage, Mr Nizamani said the department had introduced water rotation programme on permanent basis on the plea that embankments of channels were weak and regular supply of water might cause breaches.

He demanded that the government should ensure water supply to growers and stop the rotation programme.

BAN: The Sindh government has banned cultivation, multiplication and distribution of Disco, B-43/60, CO-245, Bansi, CP-20-72-84, and other unapproved varieties of sugarcane.

This was said by the director-general, Sindh agriculture research and extension, Malik Mohammad Akram, in a statement issued here on Saturday.

Mr Akram said the ban was imposed following reports that growers in some areas were cultivating unsuitable sugarcane varieties.

He asked district agriculture officers to educate growers about bad effects of such varieties on the crop and motivate them to sow only approved varieties.

He said sugarcane was sown on 261,455 hectares this year.

INDONESIAN VICE-CONSUL: The vice-consul, Republic of Indonesia, Nugraha Purniawan, has invited traders and industrialists of Hyderabad to take part in a food products exhibition being held in Jakarta from Oct 15 to 19.

He was talking to members of the Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industries at the chamber secretariat here on Saturday. Indonesian Consulate officials Zainul Arfeen and Aftab Shahid accompanied the vice-consul.

Mr Purniawan stressed the need for transfer of technology and exchange of trade delegations between the two countries.

HCCI president Abdul Razzaq Memon welcomed the diplomat.