BADIN: Farmers staged a 15-kilometer march on foot from Rajo Khanani town to Talhar on Sunday to register protest against ‘artificial’ water shortage in the tail-end district allegedly caused by theft of the scarce commodity by influential landlords.

The march, in which activists of different political parties and members of general public also took part, culminated at Allah Wala Chowk on Tando Bago-Hyderabad road in Talhar town where the participants also staged a sit-in for over three hours.

The protesters’ leaders Mir Noor Mohammad Talpur, Syed Khuda Dino Shah, Mir Lakhi Jamali and other leaders of Save Badin Action Committee said that diversions in Arkam Wah and Phuleli canal were the main reason for water shortage in the district.

They blamed officials of Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority and irrigation department for erecting diversions at three points in Phuleli to divert flow of water towards land of influential landlords.

Their share was also diverted to five flood canals from where it was stolen through 16 illegal outlets to irrigate land of the influential people in Badin, Tando Mohammad Khan and Tando Allahyar districts, depriving over one million people in the tail-end areas of the district of water for the past eight months, they said.

They said that they would resume their protest movement in a vigorous manner in the province and in Islamabad as well on Monday after the officials refusal to accept their demands and warned they could go to any length to save their children from hunger and their livestock from dying because the government was not taking any notice of their continuous protests.

Officials asked to resume talks with farmers, says Rahu

BADIN: Sindh Minister for Agriculture Mohammad Ismail Rahu has said that they have already directed officials of Sida and irrigation department to hold talks with protesting farmers again and promised all genuine concerns of growers will soon be addressed.

Mr Rahu told this reporter here on Sunday that Pakistan Peoples Party government in Sindh was making serious efforts to ensure equitable distribution of irrigation water despite lack of water flows in Indus river for the past many months.

He said that he himself was a grower and lived in the same district, he knew well about the real issues of the farmers. The government had launched several schemes to provide safe drinking water to people of Badin, he said.

Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2019