THATTA: A large number of people took part in rally taken out in Thatta against an acute shortage of irrigation and potable water in the district. They held a sit-in on the Thatta-Badin section of the highway causing disruption in the flow of vehicular traffic for over four hours.

Protesting against the irrigation authorities’ failure to release water in 62 distributaries through the Darro branch for more than two weeks, they said a drought-like situation prevailed in Sujawal, Mirpur Bathoro, Jati, Darro, Shah Bunder, Chuhar Jamali and other areas.

Azam Umrani, Dr Hotchand, Dr Ramchand, Khaliq Mallah and Hizbullah Memon of the Shehri Ittehad who led the protesters told the media during the course of the protest that residents and growers of the town and most villages in Thatta and Sujawal districts had to bring water from far flung areas to survive. “They have no other option but to travel several miles in search of water for demostic purposes as well as for their animals,” they said, adding that the subsoil water they had to consume was also responsible for spread of diseases like diarrhoea, gastroenteritis, scabies, etc.

The situation was no good for well-off people as they have to buy water from far off wetlands at an exorbitantly high rate, according to them.

Local irrigation officials told Dawn on condition of anonymity that water scarcity was caused by delaying release of water in the distributaries to facilitate the ongoing work for the repair of regulators and iron gates as well as stone-pitching of the Darro branch. They said the irrigation department had informed the district administration about commencement of the repair work well in advance with the request that reservoirs be filled adequately so as to avoid scarcity.

The Shehri Ittehad leaders said that an acute shortage of water was causing damage to vegetables, sunflower, sugarcane and other cash crops in the area.

Wheat growers of the two districts have warned the irrigation and food departments that their crop was facing a serious threat due to unavailability of water in the Nasir and Khanti distributaries.