May 1, 2006	Monday	Rabi-us-Sani 2, 1427

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BADIN, April 30: Farmers of Badin have called for immediate measures to end water shortage and to save coastal people from famine. Speaking at a press conference on Saturday, the growers of Suni Guni area, Lal Mohammad Chandio, Dr Alamuddin, Darya Khan Chandio and many others threatened to observe hunger strikes and besiege the irrigation offices on May 2, if water was not released in their minor and other water channels of the district.

The growers complained that acute water shortage persisted in all the waterways of the district for three months which was causing irreparable losses to them.

They accused irrigation officials of non-judicious distribution of water which has created resentment among the growers. They claimed that all the crops cultivated on thousands of acres in the coastal areas of the district had destroyed due to shortage of irrigation water. They alleged that influential landlords of Raj Wah and other canals were getting water more than their share with the connivance of irrigation officials.

They said that as a result of water shortage, a large number of people belonging to the coastal belt have migrated to other places. The growers staged a protest sit-in outside the local press club for more than two hours. Speaking on the occasion, they said that lives of people of the area were being destroyed through what they termed an artificial socio-economic crisis.