TOBA TEK SINGH, April 3: The continuous unscheduled closure of Gogera branch canal for the last two and a half months has badly affected various crops in dozens of villages of the district.

This was claimed by Labour Party Pakistan (LPP) district secretary-general Tariq Mahmood in a press statement here on Sunday.

He said the supply was restored for two days during last week but it was suspended on the assumption that farmers did not need water owing to last month?s rains.

He said the closure of the canal made it impossible for growers to irrigate wheat as a result 30 per cent per acre yield might decline.

He said the underground water in all villages of Gogera branch canal was brackish as a result farmers and their cattle use only irrigation water for drinking purpose.

He warned that if water

supply was not restored immediately, the party would have

no other option except to

bring farmers on roads as a protest.

GOVT CRITICIZED: PML-N leader M. Hamza has condemned the government for imposing Section 144 of the CrPC to ban holding of public meetings.

In a press statement here on Sunday, he said cases had been registered against the political activists who took part in the MMA?s strike call.

He lamented that on one

side the government was

repeatedly raising petroleum prices, on the other hand public was not allowed to even protest over it.