HYDERABAD: Growers fear closure of Rohri canal for repairs of a fall regulator at this juncture will deal a serious blow to Kharif crops and may translate into an estimated loss of Rs225 billion to farm sector if the canal that irrigates around 2.9 million acres is not opened soon.

A committee comprising irrigation experts Idris Rajput, Bashir Dahar and Babar Effendi has been formed to look into the damage that led to untimely closure of the canal and “fix responsibility and suggest action to address the issue”, according to Sindh irrigation secretary, Zaheer Hyder Shah, who is scheduled to visit the site today (Monday).

But Idris Rajput, who visited the site on Saturday, said: “We are not required to fix responsibility [on officers]. We have not submitted any report and we won’t submit any report”.

He said that they hoped the repair work would be completed by June 19 and the canal would be opened on June 20.

However, Sindh Abadgar Board president Abdul Majeed Nizamani did not appear impressed by Mr Rajput’s timeline. “It seems improbable the repair work will be completed by June 19 as being claimed,” said Mr Nizamani who led a delegation of SAB office-bearers that visited the site on Sunday to assess the damage and pace of repair work.

He feared serious losses to Kharif crops as the 208 miles long canal irrigated around 2.9 million acres in upper and lower Sindh region and held irrigation officers responsible for economic murder of the province given the fact that large swathes of land were directly dependent on water from Rohri canal.

He estimated monetary losses to crops productivity at Rs225 billion in view of contribution from Rohri canal’s command area to the country’s agriculture produce and in the event undue delay in the canal’s opening.

The canal had already remained closed for an unusually long period of 45 days this year when irrigation authorities had to shut it once again due to serious damage to its fall regulator in Phull in Naushahro Feroze district about a week ago.

Irrigation staff had noticed the damage in the flank walls of the regulator which soon developed cracks in piers and “eventually the canal had to be closed on June 5,” said a source in the irrigation department in Sukkur.

“Negligence is quite evident and responsibility needs to be fixed,” said the source.

Published in Dawn, June 13th, 2016