THATTA: 4,500 water channels to be lined in Thatta
By Our Correspondent
THATTA, Sept 13: About 4,500 kutcha watercourses in the district have been selected for concrete and brick lining under national and on-farm water management programmes to overcome the water crisis.
This was stated by DCO Ahmad Narejo while presiding over a meeting of officials of the irrigation, agriculture and drainage departments at the Darbar Hall in Makli here on Monday.
The DCO said 3,739 watercourses would be lined under the national programme and 761 under the on-farm water management programme in four years. He asked the officials to attend the next meeting on the issue.
Mr Narejo said out of 500 pucca watercourses, 400 had been constructed with financial assistance of Japan and the remaining with the assistance of the World Bank. He directed the district officer, on-farm water management, Thatta, Atta Mohammad Memon, to convene meetings of farmers and constitute watercourses' committees so that the project could be initiated in coordination with beneficiaries.
He also stressed the need for proper advertisement through handbills and pamphlets in Sindhi language on the subject to create awareness among agriculturists. The DCO was informed that recruitment of 33 assistant directors and their staff under the national programme was in process.
He was told that after recruitments, teams would be constituted to complete the project. Mr Narejo directed the officials to ensure supply of water through alternate sources during execution of the project.
SEMINAR: The Paigham Development Society organized a seminar on "Role of NGO's in bringing about social changes" in the Daro town here on Sunday. Speaking on the occasion, Yousuf Sindhi, Ghulam Nabi Zaur, Nawaz Khan Zaur, Ali Mohammad Memon, Abdul Rasheed Azad and others praised NGOs for involving women in social welfare activities. However, they were of the opinion that non-local NGOs had failed to deliver the goods.
PROTEST: The Association for Human Survival and Safety of Environment took out a procession here on Sunday to protest against inordinate delay in registration of case in connection with the Shogran tragedy over a month ago.
In the said tragedy, two under-training forest officers - Syed Mujtaba Shah and Qadeer Kundar - from Sindh had lost their lives. Led by Waheed Kiran Shoro, Shahid Ahsan Baloch, Hashmat Jatoi and others, the procession marched through main thoroughfares of the town to assemble at the press club.
Speaking to the protesters, the leaders held the director- general of the Peshawar Forest Institute Centre responsible for the incident, and alleged that the young trainees had lost their lives because of his criminal negligence.
President General Pervez Musharraf, on Aug 11, ordered an exhaustive inquiry into the incident, but no steps were taken so far, they claimed. They demanded that a case should be registered against the director-general and justice should be provided to the bereaved families.
