MIRPURKHAS, May 14: A meeting of growers, officials of the World Bank and Sida, which was held here on Tuesday, noted that 88 per cent of agricultural lands of Sindh had been destroyed by salinity and water-logging and more would be destroyed due to water shortage and sea intrusion.

The meeting noted that if sincere efforts were not undertaken to rectify the situation by putting an end to corruption in the irrigation department, millions of acres of agricultural lands would be completely destroyed due to salinity and water-logging.

The managing director, Sida, said that Sida had been formed due to the failure of the irrigation system in Sindh, and added that four and a half billion rupees were spent annually on the irrigation department, while its earning was only half a billion rupees annually.

He said that out of 45,000 water courses in Sindh only 16 per cent were lined, while in Punjab 70 per cent were lined.

He regretted that due to water shortage, the Palla specie of fish in Sindh had disappeared.

He stressed the need for using the available water resources.

He said that the World Bank was providing huge funds for lining of water courses and minors.

The representatives of the World Bank informed that the WB would create awareness among the growers, and the success of Sida would be in the larger interest of the growers as they would be controlling the distribution of water at the grassroots level, which was bound to yield positive results.

The growers representatives, however, regretted that the farmers organizations, formed under Sida, have no powers, whereas bureaucracy intended to sabotage their efforts.

They said that influential landlords were involved in water theft.

They said that the farmers organizations could not even get a corrupt irrigation official transferred.

They stated that despite releasing the full share of water in the Nara canal from the Sukkur Barrage, rotation was being enforced in the district.

They demanded removal of illegal pumps and direct outlets to end the water shortage at the tail of the Nara Canal.

Also present in the meeting was a World Bank official, Sukra Binyasi.