RAHIM YAR KHAN, Sept 3: Hundreds of farmers from Rahim Yar Khan and Khanpur tehsils staged a day-long sit-out at the DCO Office Chowk on Tuesday in protest at the unavailability of water in Abe Hayyat canal.

Farmers of Chaks 55-P, 56-P and 244-P gathered at the irrigation superintendent engineer office in the morning and vandalised the windowpanes and glasses of windows and manhandled employees. Junior clerk Abdul Ahad was injured.

Farmers chanted slogans against the officials alleging that the department had deprived them of water at the behest of a ruling party MPA who diverted the water to the 1-L canal. Later, these farmers staged a sit-out at the DCO Office Chowk.

Farmers Haroon Warraich, Chaudhry Maqsood, Akbar Warraich and Kashif Mehais told reporters that the Abe Hayyat Canal irrigated hundreds of villages of the Pakka area of Khanpur and Rahim Yar Khan and was the main source of drinking water for people and livestock.

They said they had been deprived of water for the last three months as MPA Ijaz Shafi had got closed down the canal near Chak 4-P. They demanded immediate discharge of water into the Abe Hayyat Canal or they would protest in Lahore.

MPA Ijaz Shafi said the Abe Hayyat Canal was breached five times in the summer officially and two times unofficially. He said the capacity of the canal was 683 cusecs but its current flow was 950 cusecs. He said the farmers of had widened outlets for getting more water.

He said when the Irrigation Department closed down the outlets, the canal developed breaches. He said the 1-L canal was getting its official share of water. He said the provision of irrigation water to my constituents was my responsibility.

He said farmers of Abe Hayyat should claim their right at the right forum.