HYDERABAD: The Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority (Sida) would take up with higher authorities the issue of allocation of water for 180,000 acres of the command area of Rohri Canal that had been shifted to Nara Canal’s command, said Sida chairman Kabool Mohammad Khatian on Friday.

He was speaking to members of the management of Nara Canal Area Water Board at a meeting in Mirpurkhas in which growers informed him that 180,000 acres of Rohri Canal were shifted along with their water share to Nara’s command area from time to time. But this time the irrigation department had not shifted the share of water meant for the transferred land to Nara Canal, they complained.

They urged the chairman to make sure that the share of water should be transferred immediately and complained about water theft as well as unavailability of water in the canals.

Growers claim their share to irrigate 180,000 acres through Nara Canal not given

They said that irrigation infrastructure was poorly maintained and crumbling structure was creating obstructions to water flows at various places. It was also leading to drainage issues, they said.

Both Rohri and Naral are perennial canals originating from Sukkur Barrage on the left side of the river and irrigate a large area up to Umerkot and Badin in lower Sindh region.

Khatian said that the issue would be taken up before the irrigation department and Sindh government simultaneously. Water availability to tail-end reaches should be ensured and watercourses should be repaired first, he said.

He assured them of addressing all the problems and said that all possible measures should be taken to check water theft in Sida-controlled irrigation system. All watercourses would be repaired in a week’s time, he said.

He said that if growers’ complaints were not resolved then recommendations would be made for stern action against the responsible officials.

The Nara Canal’s fall structure was built to improve water flows but if growers had reservations over its design the engineers should study them and submit their proposals in this regard, he said.

Khatian said the Sindh government was working on a programme for lining canals. Many canals had already been lined and the Sindh government would be approached for the lining of the remaining channels, he said.

He called for recovery of abiyana (water charges) and said that a survey should be completed for strengthening of Nara Canal’s embankments so that a project cost could be prepared.

The banks should be raised by 3 foot to 4ft to enable Nara Canal to carry more water like Phulelli, he said.

Zahid Bhurgari, a member of the Nara Canal area water board, said the canal system had 10 branches and its tail-end reaches had to bear with water rotation because the canal did not have capacity to carry required flows.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2023