UMERKOT: Local government representatives and growers have warned they will stage a sit-in at the Jamrao Canal regulator and besiege the office of the managing director of the Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority (SIDA) along with thousands of growers, if water is not released to their lands within four days.

Umerkot district chairman Syed Noor Ali Shah, vice chairman Haji Baqa Palli, municipal committee chairman Haji Khalid Siraj Soomro and growers’ leaders Chaudhry Musaddiq Arain and others said at a press conference at the district council hall here on Wednesday that if the irrigation department did not release water immediately, growers would not be able to cultivate Kharif crops and would have to bear huge financial losses.

They said the area which was a major producer of chilli and cotton would not be able to grow the crops. For a long time, ‘contaminated’ water from Chotiaryoon Dam was being released into the Nara Canal which was unfit for human consumption and destroyed the soil, they said.

They said that more than 200 lift machines on the banks of Nara Canal had been stealing water under the nose of officials concerned but they had turned a blind eye to them for vested interests.

Drive against direct outlets

MIRPURKHAS: The irrigation department on Wednesday launched an operation against direct outlets and watercourses taking water from East Jamrao Canal.

Sources said that engineers of irrigation department, SDOs concerned and other staff had allowed landlords, after receiving bribes, to steal water from the canal through direct outlets.

As a result, water did not reach tail-end areas, distributaries and minors of East Jamrao Canal, causing unrest among growers and compelling them to stage protest demonstrations and sit-ins against the irrigation department.

Growers demand gunny bags

KHAIRPUR: Members of the Sindh Hari Abadgar Ittehad held a demonstration outside the press club on Wednesday in protest against the district food controller, accusing him of giving away gunny bags to influential growers, landlords and traders.

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2017