July 07, 2008	Monday	Rajab 3, 1429

SANGHAR, July 6: Ten villages and standing crops over hundreds of acres land were inundated when Rohri Canal developed 200-foot wide breach at RD-752 in Shahdadpur sub-division on the non-inspection path side near Essa Sand village on Saturday.

Water was gushing out, while hundreds of villagers present at the site could do nothing in the absence of machinery and material. Irrigation authorities, to ease the pressure, closed water supply to the canal from Sukkur Barrage.

An expert in plugging breaches, Anwar Mallah told Dawn that his team reached the spot but could do nothing as there were no officials or material, including bamboos.

Abdul Karim, a villager, said the breach occurred due to negligence of irrigation officials as he never saw any officials patrolling the banks.

The affected villages include Essan Saand, Khan Mohammad Saand, Nabi Bux Jalalani, Malookabad, Photo Saand, Kadhan, Ali Akbar Jamali, Nabi Bux Bagrani, Khuda Bux Dal, Nawaz Ali, Ramzan Unnar and many more. A fish farm spread over 600 acres was also inundated, besides banana orchards, cotton, paddy and vegetable crops standing over hundreds of acres.