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HYDERABAD, Jan 20: The Sindh Irrigation Minister Syed Ali Mir Shah has urged growers to take part in the lining of watercourses and stop water wastage in view of water shortage in the province.
Talking to growers on Saturday at Lakhisar link channel, Goth Mitho Khoso, near Tando Adam, after inaugurating the desilting work undertaken on self-help basis, the minister said that the government had formulated several schemes to line watercourses.
He said growers would invest only 25 per cent while 75 per cent of the lining expenses would be borne by the government.
He said that shortage of water was also the result of the wrong policies adopted by various governments as from Jan 1, 1972, to Oct 12, 1999, 200 direct outlets (DOs) were sanctioned and the minors and channels were completely destroyed. He, however, claimed that not a single DO was sanctioned under the present government.
The minister asked officials of the irrigation department to serve the growers with devotion.
The chief engineer, Sukkur Barrage, Mohammad Mosa Memon, assured that officials of the irrigation department would cooperate with the growers to resolve their problems.
Later, Mr Shah visited Chanesar cross regulator at Rohri Canal near Nawabshah and watched the regulator slope pitching and stone apron work being carried out on emergency basis at a cost of Rs6,859,000. The work began on Jan 14, 2002 and would be completed on Jan 26. The purpose of the work was to release water in up stream canal which would have been otherwise impossible.
On his way was back to Hyderabad, the irrigation minister also attended a meeting of growers at village Mitho Khoso on Khundo-Tando Adam road where Abdul Hakim Khoso apprised him of the problems of the growers of the area.
The minister told the growers that the government had sanctioned Rs1 million for the improvement of Khandu-Tando Adam road and that 40 big channels of the province would be desilted by the irrigation department this year for which Rs76,000,000 had been allocated.
About the levy of 15 per cent GST on fertilizer, the minister said that he would talk to the relevant quarters in view of the poor financial position of the growers.
QUOTA: Anjuman Tajiran-i-Sindh has appealed to the Singh governor to increase the recruits quota of police constables of Hyderabad district to 500.
The president of the organization, Zakir Bin Zahid, in a letter to the governor, pointed out that the recruitment quota of police constables in other districts of the province ranged between 300 and 400 but the most sensitive and biggest district of the province was allotted only 44.
