MIRPURKHAS: Standing crops of cotton, chilli and vegetables on 50,000 acres of land are withering away in the tail-end area of Jhuddo taluka because of acute and persistent shortage of water, according to growers.

Representatives of Jhuddo tail-end growers Khalid Arain, Samano Khask­heli, Shoukat Rahimoon advocate and others told journalists here on Monday that nagging water shortage persisted in the area for the past three months.

They accused the officers of the irrigation department of creating artificial water shortage in tail-end areas and said they had completely failed to curb water theft because they were themselves involved in the crime.

They said that even after imposition of rotation programme on Mithrao and Jamrao canals to ensure that water reached the tail-end of Jhuddo, the quantum of water that did reach there was too little to be of any help to the standing crops of cotton, chilli and vegetables.

They said that cotton and chilli plants were falling prey to different kinds of pests and their growth too had slowed down because of lack of water, fuelling fears among growers the crops’ production would significantly drop this year.

They said that unabated water theft mainly through tampered watercourses had also deprived hundreds of villages of drinking water.

They demanded Sindh chief minister, governor, irrigation minister, secretary of irrigation department and managing director of the Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority should immediately take notice of water mismanagement, order an impartial inquiry into officers’ corruption, close tampered watercourses, replace corrupt officers and ensure availability of water in the tail-end area to save standing crops.

They said that if their demands were not accepted they would be compelled to launch a protest campaign against corrupt officers.

Jhuddo produced crops earlier than other areas of the province due to its peculiar climatic conditions but this year sowing of tomato might get delayed due to shortage of water, they feared.

15 illegal water outlets dismantled

THATTA: The irrigation authorities dismantled 15 unauthorised water outlets set up by influential landlords and registered criminal cases against them at Garho and Ghorabhari police stations for stealing water, sources told Dawn on Monday.

In addition, the chief engineer of irrigation Hyderabad had issued warnings to five officials for conniving with influential landlords in water theft in the area, which had deprived growers of their due share in water in the command areas of Khanti Wah and Indo Wah.

The sources said the irrigation department had decided to tighten noose round the necks of water thieves irrespective of their clout.

Published in Dawn, June 20th, 2017