LARKANA: “My heart bleeds to see my land prepared for paddy cultivation drying up amid ongoing water shortage,” says a dejected grower pointing to his farmland near Qubo Shakh, an offshoot of Saifullah Magsi branch.

Tillers and growers who had prepared hundreds of acres for paddy — the only crop sown in this belt — are anxiously waiting for water though its chances are few and far between.

This correspondent travelled to different areas to gauge degree of water shortage and its impact in Shahdadkot, Qubo Saeed Khan and Sindh-Balochistan border areas.

Standing on the bridge over Right Bank Outfall Drain-III on road to Khuzdar, one can see its flows at dead level with effluent (greenish in colour) and parallel to it ran a dried up Rabi Shakh (small irrigation channel) which served as an important artery to irrigate farmland.

Right from this bridge up to head of the Qubo Shakh at Saifullah Magsi branch’s 194 Qubo Regulator, the path was uneven and villages without facilities.

Greenish poisonous water was just barely a few inches deep and hardly touching mouth of a module, hence it was impossible to irrigate the land. Village women were seen carrying pitchers on their heads and filling them with this highly contaminated water while at a certain distance a shepherd boy was tending to cattle splashing in the branch, muddying the little water flowing in it.

One can easily imagine the level of helplessness of the people residing in this belt, which was bereft of trees, lacked drinking water and irrigation water.

A villager, who owned land adjacent to PPP MPA Mir Nadir Magsi’s said: “We cannot install hand pumps here as the underground water is highly brackish. We cannot afford to drink it,” said the villager.

Mir Nadir Magsi had recently raised the issue of water shortage on Sindh Assembly’s floor and blamed “mismanagement” in water distribution for the shortage.

Israr Brohi, a tandail (a man responsible for water distribution through a regulator) at 194 point, said the water level (contaminated) in Saifullah Magsi branch was two feet and by lowering gates of Dhori Shakh, the Qubo Shakh was receiving 1.4 feet.

The Khadim Hussain Brohi village along Balochistan’s boundary had highly brackish subsoil water, which was the only source of drinking as well, he said.

The irrigation officers seldom visit this point. It is a vast rice belt and majority of population depends on paddy crop, says Ishaque Mugheri, a leader of Sindh Abadgar Board’s Qambar-Shahdadkot chapter.

The Saifullah Magsi branch and SKT branch, commonly known as Shahdadkot branch or Jannat and Tanveri Shakh, are key arteries irrigating this rice belt and also meeting drinking water needs of humans and animals.

The SKT branch had command area of 118,000 acres while Saifullah Magsi branch had command area of 156,000 acres, said Mugheri. The SKT branch had the designed discharge capacity of 2,560 cusecs but it drew 1,800 cusecs and designed discharge of Saifullah branch was 1,900 cusecs but received very small amount of water, he said.

Two more branches, Ratodero and Salar, had respectively designed discharge of 930 cusecs and 590 cusecs but, according to the SAB leader, they received 750 and 340 cusecs, respectively.

The irrigation system was disorderly and damaged, said Mr Mugheri, former president of SAB Shahdadkot. The illegal pipes inserted in Saifullah Magsi branch and damaged watercourses were key factors for water scarcity in the area, he said.

The pipes should be removed and Rangers be deployed to ensure transparent distribution of water, he added.

A local journalist Fida Hussain Bhatti said that 147 illegal pipes were inserted in tributaries and watercourses were damaged. The irrigation officials instead of initiating a drive against genuine defaulters had targeted growers in the tail areas, who were already receiving a small amount of water, he said.

Abdul Khalique Khoso, president of SAB Qambar-Shahdadkot chapter, said that acute shortage of water had drastically affected not only preparation of paddy nurseries but also delayed transplantation process.

“As a routine we get water till May 10 but it is the second week of June and we are still without water,” he said.

He lamented over insertion of illegal pipes in Saifullah Magsi branch, Warah and Begari command area. “We don’t have water to drink, water ponds have dried up and animals are dying as migration of population has started,” he said.

“Instead of 2.5 feet water level in Saifullah Magsi branch we have presently hardly 2-3 inches left in it,” Khoso said.

From Khirthar Begari head to Garang Regulator at 102 RD there were 65 big illegal pipes inserted in the system and the Saifullah Magsi branch, which ran 45 miles, was littered with illegal pipes on the Balochistan side, he said.

The irrigation staff was hand in glove with influential persons and allowed them to steal water. In stark violation of Supreme Court’s orders of removing the illegal pipes, water was continuously being stolen by Balochistan under the nose of irrigation officials, he said.

He forewarned that starvation amid acute shortage of water coupled with shrinking employment resources would give birth to law and order situation in the belt.

He called for immediately removing illegal pipes from the irrigation arteries, branches, and tributaries to save population linked with agriculture from economic disaster. Illegal pipes were at the root of water dispute between Sindh and Balochistan which the government should resolve, said Khoso, adding the delay would only aggravate the situation.

Shahdadkot situated on Sindh-Balochistan border is an economic hub where 105 rice mills were working, said Seth Qamaruddin Shaikh, former president of Sindh Balochistan Rice Millers and Traders Association.

If the rice crop fell short of its target the labourers working in the mills would suffer and economic activities would also be affected, he said.

Published in Dawn, June 8th, 2021