PESHAWAR: Farmers have expressed concern over delay in release of irrigation water in Warsak Lift Canal and feared the negligence on part of officials concerned will cause huge losses to them.

A group of farmers led by Gul Nawaz Mohmand told mediapersons here on Sunday that the irrigation department had stopped water in the Warsak Canal on account of de-silting it many months ago but the supply was yet to be resumed.

He said the growers of various crops and vegetables depended on water from the canal for irrigation, and feared if water supply was not restored at the earliest the people would not be able to get the required produce.

Mr Mohmand pointed out that the canal was narrow and needed to be further improved in order to stop wastage of water and meet the requirement of increasing population.

The farmers, he said had taken a sigh of relief after the recent rains but it was not sufficient for increasing water demand as some varieties of crops and vegetables needed a lot of water.

He said the government had focused its attention only on few districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to appease the ministers while the areas with weak representation in the provincial assembly had been neglected.

Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2018