HYDERABAD, Oct 30: The growers of the Bilori Shakh tail-end, Tando Jam, on Thursday held a protest demonstration at Khisana Mori and outside the Hyderabad Press Club against the non-availability of irrigation water in nine watercourses of the Shakh.

Talking to newsmen, the leaders of Bilori Abadgar Association, Haji Ali Mohammad Pahore, Mohammad Ayub Burdi, Mian Abdullah Shaikh, Ali Mohammad Ghamach and others said that the tail-enders of Bilori Shakh were not being provided irrigation water for the last 10 months.

They alleged that no water had been released in nine watercourses of the Shakh.

They said that the landlords who had their lands at the mouth of the Shakh had tampered with the channel and they were stealing water in connivance with the officials of the irrigation department.

They demanded that FIRs should be registered against the water thieves.

They further demanded that action should also be taken against those landlords who had installed suction pumps on the watercourses and had tampered with the modules.

They said that direct outlet to Bilori Shakh link canal scheme should be given from the Rohri canal and the undeclared rotation programme should be cancelled.

The leaders of the Bilori Abadgar Association demanded that the sub-engineer and Darogha of Bilori Shakh should be transferred and the chief engineer, Sukkur Barrage; the SE, Rohri Canal, and the XEN, Naseer Division, should be directed to visit Bilori Shakh every week.

They said a committee should be constituted comprising a senior officer of the irrigation department and representatives of the tail-end growers to visit the Shakh and submit a report to the competent authorities for taking further action in the matter.

They warned that if their problem was not resolved by Nov 4 and water was not released to the tail-enders, they would again stage a protest demonstration.

PML(N): The activists of the PML(N), led by Mohammad Hanif Siddiqui, Malik Mohammad Shahid, Asifa Riaz, Fahmeeda Jakhrani and others staged a protest demonstration outside the Hyderabad Press Club against the arrest of Javed Hashmi, the acting president of the party.