LARKANA, July 13: The growers’ representative body, Sindh Abadar Board (SAB), has threatened to launch a protest movement in the wake of an acute shortage of irrigation water in the Saifullah Magsi branch, the Warah canal and the SKT branch, leading to wilting of prepared rice paddies in Larkana division.

At present the level of water in the Saifullah Magsi branch was 1.5 feet, half the mandatory flow of three feet, said the SAB president for Kambar-Shahdadkot district, Ishaque Mughiri, while talking to Dawn on Saturday.

He feared that the prepared rice paddies would be destroyed because growers at the middle and tail-end of these irrigation arteries hardly received any water. “How can we expect a marked yield when we don’t even have healthy seedlings?

Answering a question, Mr Mughiri said that irrigation canals located at the starting point of the Saifullah Magsi branch were getting the required volume of water. Similarly another main irrigation artery, the SKT branch was also receiving a small amount of water which then carried it on to its tributaries including Gul Shah Shakh, Begari Shakh, Maqsoodo Shakh, Soonharo Shakh, Mastoi Shah and Kalhoro Shakh and other tributaries.

However, he said, smaller branches, including Qubo Shakh, Dhori Shakh, Patooja Shakh, Shahbaig, Shahan, Imdad Minor, Gandakha-left, were facing an acute shortage of water.

To be able to reap a good crop, Mr Mughiri said, paddy transplantation had to be finished till the end of July. But under the prevailing conditions it looked quite impossible, he said, since the irrigation authorities were not taking the water scarcity seriously.

The SAB office-bearer said that he contacted the chief engineer of the right bank of the Sukkur barrage, Noor Hussain Larik, who simply said that the ‘water volume had fallen and we were trying to cope up with the situation’.

Meanwhile, as growers come to grips with the acute paucity of water, they also have to deal with illegal water connections draining the Saifullah Magsi branch and North Western canal. Pipes of large diameter have been put in at RD-82 and RD-179 points respectively on these canals.

Dawn learnt that growers and tillers living in Warah subdivision, which is the command area of Warah and rice canals, are anxiously waiting for water to arrive so that they can begin the process of paddy transplantation over thousands of acres. “The prepared paddy nurseries also need water to stay alive,” said a rice grower, Moor Chandio. “We had hardly finished preparing 75 per cent of the paddy nurseries and now we have to worry about saving them.”

He said that at present, there was just enough water in Puna Shakh, Naseer Shakh, Nawab Shakh, Tunia Minor, Panhwaro Shakh, Kanwar Shakh, Meer Wah, Mangio Shakh, Khuhawar Shakh, Cheelo Minor and Sanbhal Shakh to cover their beds. Meanwhile, the Awami Tehreek (AT), protested outside the Warah Press Club on Saturday against water shortage in the Warah canal.

Led by local AT leaders including Ghulam Mustafa Chandio and Inayatullah Lashari, the protesters demanded for early release of water to save the paddy nurseries and growers’ livelihoods.

According to SAB’s central vice-president, Gada Hussain Mahisar, the shortage had been caused because irrigation department did not carry out de-silting of big and small water courses. “Water flow in the irrigation channels is severely hindered by the heavy growth of weeds along their beds,” he said. “Irrigation authorities did not think of clearing the course of water channels before the arrival of season.”

Calling water distribution a major issue, Mr Mahisar said that the transplantation process can still be completed by July 25, but if it was delayed further the crop would become vulnerable to a pest attack.