RAHIM YAR KHAN: A 40-foot-wide breach occurred in the district’s largest Panjnad Canal, inundating cotton and sugarcane fields near Thul Hamza in Liaqatpur tehsil, some 100km from here, on Tuesday.

Water has been released into the canal after seven-month long closure.

According to locals, initially a minor breach occurred in the canal’s right bank near RD-22, which later widened to 100 feet at 5am. As a result, the water entered nearby fields in no time due to high flow in the canal.

Ahmedpur East irrigation department Senior Engineer (SE) Mehboob Rabbani told Dawn the actual discharge of water in the canal that originates from Panjnad Headworks was 7,500 cusecs.

He said there were many old dried trees on both sides of the canal and their roots damaged the banks. He added that a small breach occurred in the right bank of the canal initially when water was released after seven months.

Irrigation dept accused of negligence

He said that immediately after the breach was reported, the canal was closed from Panjnad Headworks and now the irrigation staff, with the help of heavy machinery, was working to plug it. He hoped the breach would be plugged by Tuesday night and water would be again released in it on Wednesday.

Mr Rabbani said the canal water damaged standing crops in some fields but no harm to any house in the affected area was reported. The Panjnad Canal mostly irrigates areas of non-perennial canals in the northern belt of the district.

On the other hand, district organiser of the Pakistan Kissan Ittehad (PKI) Jam Muhammad Din Ganga criticised the irrigation department officials concerned, accusing them of gross negligence. He asked why the officials did not get the damaged banks of the canal repaired before releasing water into it after a long closure.

He said who was responsible for the losses caused to the tail-end farmers, who were deprived of canal water because of such breaches.

He said the Panjnad Canal fed two other large canals -- Dallas Branch and Sadiq Branch -- that supplied water to a dozen minor canals and mostly of these were without water so far.

KIDNAPPED: Three men, including a trailer’s driver, were allegedly kidnapped by dacoits near Rahimabad in the limits of Bhong police station in Sadiqabad tehsil, some 50kms from on Monday night.

According to locals, they found a trailer (TLM-850) parked in the middle of a road near the Mubarak minor canal bridge and immediately informed the police about it.

A police team arrived on the spot and found that neither the driver nor cleaner was present there and the trailer’s batteries and other items were missing.

Locals suspected that the driver and two cleaners had been kidnapped by dacoits for ransom.

The police have started investigation into disappearance of the three men without registering an FIR so far.

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2022