SUKKUR, July 6: Water level at Dadu Canal, Rice Canal and the NW Canal has dropped to an alarmingly low level and farmers of Dadu, Garhi Yasin, Larkana, Shahdadkot have been staging sit-ins almost daily to protest against acute water shortage.

The superintendent engineer of Dadu Canal, Qazi Zahoor, held a meeting with the chief engineer (irrigation) Sukkur Barrage, Noor Ahmed Shah, on Tuesday and apprised him of the situation arising out of the water shortage.

He said that water shortage had caused damage to rice and others crops in many areas where growers were staging sit-ins in front of the irrigation offices on a daily basis.

Talking to Dawn, the irrigation authorities at the barrage said they had been facing 15 to 20 per cent water shortage for the last one week, as a result of which they were unable to supply water to Dadu Canal, Rice Canal and the North Western Canal.

The shortage of water had affected parts of Shikarpur, Larkana, Dadu, Shahdadkot and Balochistan. A high official said that the reason for the shortage was that Punjab was drawing 19,000 cusecs from Chashma Barrage through the Chashma- Jhelum Canal despite the fact that under the 1991 accord it was not supposed to draw water at a time when Sindh was facing water shortage.

Moreover, the Taunsa-Panjnad link canal was also drawing 8,000 cusecs from Taunsa Barrage which too was against the water accord, he added. The official said if both of the canals stopped drawing water, every canal in Sindh could be provided water according to its needs.

Meanwhile, hundreds of growers of Garhi Yasin staged a sit-in at Yasin Wah bus stop to protest against non-availability of water on Tuesday. Vehicular traffic on the Shikarpur-Garhi Yasin Road remained suspended for two hours due to the protest. Protestors raised slogans against irrigation officials and burnt tyres.

Speaking on the occasion, growers said despite various appeals no water was released for Yasin Wah and Mangar Wah due to which rice crop was drying up. Later, the SHO Garhi Yasin reached the spot and assured the growers that they would get water within 24 hours. The protesters later dispersed on his assurance.

Growers of Shahdadkot will stage a sit-in on Wednesday at Garang Wah Regulator to protest against non-availability of water in 24 canals and distributaries of Taluka Shahdadkot.

A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting held in Shahdadkot on Monday. The meeting was called by the Sindh Abadgar Board and was attended by growers and landlords in large numbers.

Speaking on the occasion, growers claimed that despite the assurance of irrigation officials, no water had been released in the distributaries of Shahdadkot, including Gul Shah, Dhoori, Patooja, Shah Beg, Tanwari, Sukkur Wah, Qubbo, Imdad Minor, Sanjar, Noor Pur and others.