HYDERABAD, Sept 22: A three-member team of the Asian Development Bank, comprising Robin Bruce Erickson, MA Adora Deguito and Aslam Rasheed, has praised the performance of farmers’ organizations (FOs) as impressive and forward-looking.

A spokesman for the Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority in a statement here on Sunday said the team met office-bearers and members of FOs at Tando Mohammad Khan and Badin.

The ADB team visited the areas to examine operations and maintenance of facilities to assess measures to enhance the viability and benefits derived from the ADB-aided Kotri Barrage Rehabilitation Project.

The team inspected works done under this programme and at the request of Sida also visited the field to assess the performance of FOs established under the institutional reforms being introduced in the Left Bank Canal command area.

The ADB members met office-bearers and members of FOs Pandhi minor, Shah Bukhari minor in Tando Mohammad Khan and FO of Baneri minor Badin district. The team was told by FOs that they were executing schemes on self-help and participatory basis.

The office-bearers of the Pandhi minor farmers organiszation informed the team they had generated Rs75,000 on self-help basis and conducted desilting of the minor on their own.

The team visited the Sida office, Hyderabad, where Nazeer Ahmed Memon, social development specialist, and Shaheen, Sida coordinator of monitoring and evaluation, briefed the team members about the formation and working of the area water board and farmers’ organizations.

BODIES DISSOLVED: The provincial president of Pakistan Awami Tahrik, Dr S.M. Zamir, has dissolved all district and taluka bodies of the party in the interior Sindh and appointed Danish Channa as head of the organizing committee.