BADIN, Aug 19: Protesting against an acute shortage of irrigation water, hundreds of growers from the command area of Imam Wah Jaghir blocked the Badin-Karachi National Highway at the bridge, suspending vehicular traffic for more than three hours.

They raised slogans against irrigation officials, demanding immediate release of water to the tail end of Imam Wah Jaghir which is fed by the Phuleli canal.

Talking to this reporter, Muhammad Qasim Memon and other land owners described the shortage of water as artificial which, they said, had rendered hundreds of acres barren. Further shortage would damage standing crops over more than 6,000 acres at the tail end, they added.

They accused irrigation officials of releasing water illegally into 38 pipes unlawfully installed at the Wah. They had been selling water to influential land lords, they said.

The growers also accused irrigation officials of mismanagement, saying that two barrages were in high flood flow and a state of emergency had been declared in the irrigation department but the tail-end growers of Imam Wah were facing scarcity of water.

The growers ended their protest when SSP Shoukat Ali reached the spot and held out the assurance to solve their problem. But none of the irrigation officials visited the spot and faced the protesters.

Later, a five-member delegation of growers, including Manzoor Ali Memon, Muhammad Talib Rahokro, Mir Muhammad Otho, and Achar Rahokoro met the SSP and requested him for registration of a case against irrigation officials.

However, the SSP contacted high-ups of the irrigation department and got water released in the Imam Wah.

The growers complained that irrigation officials frequently suspended supply of water. They threatened to surround the offices of Matli sub-division SDO and executive engineer of the Phuleli canal division if the irrigation officials repeated such practice.