SANGHAR, April 30: Members of farmers’ organizations have demanded lining of main and branch canals in the first phase, instead of watercourses. They were speaking at a seminar on “Sindh On-Farm Water Management Project”, organized by the media and communication cell of the Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority at the district council hall here on Saturday.

Nazeer Memon said there was 19 million acre feet (MAF) underground sweet water in Punjab while it was only two MAF in Sindh because of less rains in the province.

He observed that seepage from canals and other water channels made underground water sweet and if the channels were bricked and the seepage thus contained, there would be no sweet water.

Rawtiani Minor Farmers’ Organization chairman Gulzar Ahmad said water loss due to seepage was 27 per cent from canals and only seven per cent from watercourses so, the canals should be lined first.

Other speakers said there were millions of trees on banks of canals which were brought up by seepage water. They said these trees would be destroyed if there was no seepage.

They said mega projects like the Left Bank Outfall Drain, Right Bank Outfall Drain and the Chotiari Reservoir had failed to yield positive results.

They observed that the 12th on-farm water management project would also fail like earlier ones because of ill planning. They said farmers had demolished watercourses lined in the past because of faulty designs. They added that the same mistake was being repeated.

Abdul Basit, a representative of the on-farm water management project, claimed that projects completed during the past 50 years were working satisfactorily.

He further claimed that water loss due to seepage from watercourses was more than 27 percent which could be reduced by lining of the waterways.

Some farmers accused irrigation officials of demanding bribes for providing water to them.