THE western parts of Johi taluka in Dadu district and Khairpur Nathan Shah called kachho used to depend on rain-fed crops. During the ’90s, the area received recurrent rainshowers and people reaped bumper crops.

Owing to the continuous chopping of trees and other factors, nature took her revenge in the form of prolonged periods of drought. The barrage area of Johi went from being lush green to a complete desert.

The British had declared Dadu district suitable to grow only dry crops; paddy cultivation was banned. But gradually powerful landlords from Mehar, Khairpur Nathan Shah and upper-stream Phuliji started tampering with the state-laid watercourses and lifting water. Today, dozens of landlords cultivate rice over hundreds of acres. There is knee-deep water in these vast areas, and the excessive use of water has rendered these bigwigs’ land water-logged. But they refuse to release a drop of water to tail-end Johi.

Small farmers have peacefully been protesting since the 1990s, but the callousness of the powers that be is inexplicable. Watercourses in the barrage area of Johi have dried out, there is no water for either people or livestock, and the underground water table has fallen abysmally low. People have had to migrate and business has dwindled.

The provincial ruling party, the PPP, seems to be held hostage by the big landlords who, with the connivance of irrigation department officers, cannot be touched. It is true that the water shortage is due also to factors such as climate change, overall water availability, etc. But the shortage is not shared by all.

The Rangers or the Pakistan Army should be deployed for five years to monitor water flow and reign in the big landlords’ excesses. If this is not done of an emergency basis, the water crisis could become irreversible. In the next election, the PPP may lose over the water issue.

Gulsher Panhwer
District Dadu

Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2018