MUZAFFARGARH: Mango orchards spreading over 5,500 acres have been damaged in Muzaffargarh due to the river Chenab floods, leaving many stakeholders in financial crunch.

Sardar Aun, a mango orchard owner in Doaba, told this correspondent that he had sown Chaunsa which was scheduled to be picked by the end of September but water was still in the orchard. He said he had ‘sold’ the fruit for Rs3 million but the contractor paid him Rs500,000 in advance and fled after flooding. He said the growers were in for heavy financial loss.

He regretted that the government had failed to provide compensation to the growers and other stakeholders so far. He said the government should facilitate the growers with provision of equipment and machinery to drain out water otherwise it would become a source of diseases.

Agriculture official Iqbal Niazi said the department was at the stage of assessing the loss and would go for compensation after that.

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2014