02 February 2004	Monday	10 Zilhaj 1424

HYDERABAD, Feb 1: Farmers' organizations of the Nara Canal Area Water Board have recovered Rs57.4 million water charges for 2001-2 Kharif and Rabi seasons up to Jan 14, 2004, sources told this correspondent here on Sunday.

The area water board in a report has informed the Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority about the collection of water charges from growers of the Nara Canal command area and also furnished a list of influential people who had not cleared their dues.

The sources further said the Sindh Revenue Board, which collects water charges from the command area of 13 canals, collected Rs27 million from the command area of one canal during 2002-3.

They said Rs9.855 million was still outstanding against some influential growers of the Nara Canal command area. Meanwhile, the Asian Development Bank Loan Review Mission that visited the National Drainage Sector Project from Dec 8 to Dec 20, 2003, in its "Draft Aid Memoir for Discussion" has noted that the overall progress of the project in Sindh is good when compared to the other provinces.

According to inside sources, the aid memoir said institutional reforms had a positive impact as area water boards at Nara, Ghotki and Left Bank canals had been established. It said out of 166 farmers' organizations of the Nara Canal Area Water Board, 162 had been registered and the management had been transferred to 157 organizations.

It, however, maintained that the institutional reforms needed further strengthening for which it said the Sindh government should reaffirm its support by resolving some issues.

The issues identified in the aid memoir included the delay in handing over area water boards of Begari to Sida and transfer of the Pat Feeder Canal and the Guddu Barrage as agreed in March 2003.

The memoir said the administrative setup of Sida was now relatively stable although eight managing directors had been changed since the establishment of the authority. It stressed the need for modernizing the irrigation system before handing over the same to farmers' organizations, establishing a training unit in Sida and implementing the capacity building programme of the organizations. It called for the transfer of administrative powers to Sida for making it fully operational.