January 18, 2007	Thursday	Zilhaj 27, 1427

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DERA GHAZI KHAN, Jan 17: The breach in an embankment at the Taunsa Barrage on Monday night has exposed two things: the lack of coordination between constructors and Irrigation Department, and the department’s poor planning to supply water into the DG Khan canal during the construction work. The breach has rendered losses to constructors, farmers in the command area of the DG canal and the Irrigation Department.

When the Taunsa Barrage Remodelling Project was launched in May 2005, the authorities had not planned the provision of irrigation-cum-drinking water supply to the farmers in Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur district. The canal irrigates over one million acre in Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur districts. Agriculture Department’s record shows that since the launch of the Taunsa project, per acre yield decreased in the two districts in the last two years. In 2004, average per acres yield of wheat was 1,380kg, while in 2005-2006, it stood at 890kg per acre. In 2005, farmers cultivated 395,825 acre of wheat, while in 2006, they cultivated 397,875 acre of wheat.

Akbar Khan Dareshak and Afzal Khan Dareshak, farmers from Rajanpur, told Dawn that they had no other option but to irrigate their standing crops with brackish water.

They said the closure of the DG Khan Canal had increased the cost of cultivation while, per acre yield had decreased. They said brackish sub soil water had damaged their lands. They said scores of families had left the area because of the non-availability of drinking water. Earlier, the department had not discharged water into the canal at the time of sowing of wheat, they said.

DG Khan Irrigation Chief Engineer Hafeez Khan, who is also the convener of the committee probing into the breach, told Dawn the committee would complete the task in a week. He said the closure of the DG Canal would not affect the farmers but only those depending on the canal for drinking water. He claimed 1,000 cusecs water would be released into the canal for drinking purposes.

Senator Jamal Khan Leghari said that he would raise the issue in the Senate and demanded an independent inquiry into the matter. He said that two million people in Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur had been affected by the ill-planned project.