MUZAFFARGARH: Police have registered water theft cases against 129 people in Muzaffargarh.

It is alleged that a landlord with the support of irrigation officials steal the water from Lunda Minor at Alipur tehsil.

Deputy Commissioner Amjad Shoaib Tareen on Wednesday paid a surprise visit to Alipur tehsil where he observed the situation and ordered Assistant Commissioner Ahsan Mubeen to take action against the suspects. He said cases would be registered against the irrigation officials who helped farmers steal water.

He said he would visit Alipur next week to meet the farmers at tail-end so that they could be allowed to not pay the water cess if they were not getting water.

Later, he held an open court at Alipur where more than 100 farmers met him and complained about water theft.

The DC said he had identified five distributaries at Alipur where influential people had made arrangements to steal the water. He sent for the executive engineer but he avoided the meeting and sent an official.

The DC asked the revenue officials to ensure attendance on a daily basis at tehsil office.

Last week, the DC took against two officials at Kot Addu where he received complaints of similar nature.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2021