KARACHI: The Sindh government has decided to impose a complete ban on cultivation of rice along perennial canals such as Ghotki Feeder, Rohri Canal and Nara Canal to save their command area from waterlogging, salinity, seepage and land degradation.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah issued directives to all divisional commissioners to ensure implementation of the ban at a high-profile meeting at Chief Minister House on Friday, said a spokesman for the provincial government.

Mr Shah said that rice was a high-delta crop which required more water than cotton and other Kharif crops and NW and Dadu canals were designed for irrigating dry crops but it was allowed later to use their water for the cultivation of rice in the wake of World War II to ensure food security.

He directed Hyderabad Comm­is­sioner Abbas Baloch to talk to growers whose lands were wat­ered by Dadu Canal and convince them to switch over to low-delta crops. “This is the time we have to switch over to low-delta and high-yield crops because of water shortage and waterlogging issue,” he said.

The meeting was told that cotton sowing in Sindh started in May and rice cultivation in June, therefore, the chief minister asked the irrigation department to release water to the perennial canals in May so that farmers could start sowing cotton. If water supplies were delayed, the growers would opt for rice, he cautioned.

The chief minister constituted a committee of secretaries of irrigation, agriculture and revenue departments to work out a detailed plan for releasing irrigational water and launching a drive to convince growers to opt for low-delta crops. He also directed the agriculture department to guide and facilitate growers in swapping the high-delta crops.

The meeting was attended by MNA Syed Khursheed Shah, Minister for Agriculture Ismail Rahu, Minister for Irrigation Nasir Shah, Special Assistant to CM Ashfaq Memon, all secretaries concerned, principal secretary to CM Sajid Jamal Abro and Karachi Commissioner Iftikhar Shallwani.

All the other commissioners, deputy commissioners and irrigation engineers also joined the meeting through video link.

Murad rejects governor’s remarks about Sindh govt

SEHWAN: Mr Shah said in a rejoinder to Sindh Governor Imran Ismail’s remarks that Sindh government was in a comfortable position with regard to finances and said the provincial government was facing serious difficulties completing ongoing schemes, not to speak of launching new schemes.

Mr Shah told journalists after laying wreath on the grave of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar on the concluding day of the 767th annual urs celebrations of the saint on Friday that it was not the governor’s job to comment on the financial position of the government. During the current financial year, the Sindh government had not been able to launch any new development scheme because of shortage of funds, he said.

He said the Sindh government was raising the issue of budget with Centre which had to release Rs120 billion to Sindh from NFC award but it withheld Rs8 to 9bn out of Rs15bn for development works.

He said that since the provincial government could not withhold salaries it had to reduce funds for development and non-development schemes. Last year, the Sindh government had used Rs204bn on development works but this year it would utilise less than Rs80bn, he said.

He rejected the governor’s claim that Sindh government was not able to utilise funds. If it was so then how had it spent Rs204bn last year, he said.

Mr Shah criticised President Arif Alvi for talking about abrogation of 18th Amendment and presidential system and said that PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and party leadership wanted to see democracy continue to function in the country but a few people wanted to derail it.

He said that there were reasons the Sindh government had decided not to purchase wheat from growers this year. First, it had big stocks of wheat stored at food department godowns, secondly the government had no funds to start buying the grain, he said.

He said that Sindh government was working with World Bank and international agencies on its development schemes. Work on many schemes was going on in Karachi and irrigation system and Sukkur Barrage would be improved with the help of World Bank, he said.

About Prime Minister Imran Khan’s use of questionable language for Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, Mr Shah said that Imran Khan had not learnt how to tender apology for his mistakes.

He said that this year heatwave was more intense during urs celebrations than last year’s and about 2.5 million people had visited the shrine this year.

The chief minister was accompanied by PPP lawmakers, party leaders and officers of police and administration during the visit of the shrine.

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2019