October 05, 2008	Sunday	Shawwal 05, 1429

LARKANA, Oct 4: The people of Shahdadkot representing different shades of life unanimously rejected the construction of RBOD-III passing near Shahdadkot saying that it would devastate the virgin land and submerge the Shahdadkot town and its adjoining areas.

The team members held open dialogue with the people at the irrigation rest house in Shahdadkot on Saturday.

Ashiq Mughiri, president Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB) Qambar-Shahdadkot, while raising serious objections over the project said that it would not only devastate the agriculture land but also submerge the town.

He said RBOD-III should be constructed with the natural course of Hirdin drain along with Hamal Lake instead of making new courses inflicting huge damages and losses.

He said already the Hirdin drain had ruined 18,400 acres of land. Terming its designs defective and alignment faulty, he said growers of Shahdadkot would not afford to allow the construction of this drain.

He said it would not only affect Shahdadkot, but due to faulty alignment, it would play havoc in Mehar, Sehwan and throughout is course. The Hridain drain had already damaged land and inflicted majority of the population with Hepatitis B and C.

Comrade Mohammed Uris Selro said that RBOD-III was intertwined with the mass migration for it would cause ‘Badin like disaster’.

Engineer Ahmed Yar Kariro, General Secretary of PPP Shahdadkot, Ghaffar Pindranni a social worker, Sardar Khadim Hussain Langah president PPP Shahdadkot city, Shahnawaz Magsi, Mohammed Saffar Kariro, Abdul Khalique Khoso and many more in their speeches also rejected the project.

They said that the construction of RBOD-III would hit the big anaj mandi of Interior of Sindh (Shahdadkot) and called it a bomb that would devastate the town and the adjacent areas.

Already Mirokhan drain and Shahdadkot drain had severely damaged the crops in Shahdadkot, they said and added that RBOD-III was initiated without environmental studies. When Syed Raghib Abbas Shah, Member (Water) of Wapda took rostrum, people disputed his claims.

Chairman IRSA Bashir Ahmed Dahar and secretary irrigation Shuja Junejo supported the pro-people projects.