18 July 2004	Sunday	29 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

KHAIRPUR, July 17: The breach in the Ali Bahar Wah has still not been plugged and two more villages, Soomar Ujjan and Motto Ujjan, have come under water and their residents have left the villages.

About 30 houses have collapsed till the filing of this report on Saturday evening.

Water supply to the Ali Bahar Wah from Mirwah regulator at Kotdiji has been suspended and the canal embankments have collapsed near the Jiskani Bridge which connects more than 30 villages to the National Highway.

In case the bridge collapses, there is no alternate route to connect the villages to the highway.

Jiskani union council nazim Ghulam Qasim Jiskani told this correspondent that if embankments of the Wah were not repaired before restoring water supply to it, there was every possibility that the bridge would collapse.

On Friday evening, the villagers cut the Pir Gudo road by 30 feet to turn the water flow to a ditch with a view to saving the crops. The Ali Bahar Wah developed an 80-foot breach on Friday morning which inundated three villages and crops standing over more than 150 acres.

WATER THEFT: A case of water theft was registered against four farmers in the Gambat area on Saturday but no arrest was made.

Darogha Allah Bachayo Jamrao lodged the case against Ghulam Ujjan, Sajan Narejo, Nazo Machhi and Suhbat Narejo with the Gambat police.

He stated that during routine checking of the Khuhra minor in the morning, he found the accused stealing water by breaching embankments of the minor between Hechari regulator and the Agra bridge.