LARKANA, May 25: Farmers of Larkana and Qambar-Shahdadkot districts have called for release of water into canals to save people from drought.

Talking to Dawn on Thursday, central vice-president of Sindh Abadgar Board, Mr Gada Hussain Mahisar, said that the rice belt in Sindh received water till May 5 but there was no water now causing immense hardship to people.

He said that water released into rivers was highly contaminated and the rice canal was yet to receive any water.

He said that people and animals were dying after using poisonous water.

He said that Sindh had 70 per cent brackish underground water and its entire land was irrigated on 30 per cent sub-soil sweet water.

Reservoirs of 30 per cent sweet water due to its extensive use were decreasing and it would definitely cast negative impact in future on the entire crop production, he said.

He said that the sea was eroding land due to non-availability of water and on the other four million acre land in non-rice producing areas of Punjab was irrigated last year.

In Sindh, the area under cultivation was just 1.99 million acres.

“Where Sindh’s share had gone and how non-rice-producing belt in Punjab was irrigated” he asked.

Sindh Abadgar Board Shahdadkot president Ishaque Mughiri said that the growers had faced tremendous losses in the shape of poor production of wheat crop.

“Now acute shortage of water is posing another threat to rice growers” he said.

He said that if water was not released in time it would harm the over all production.

He said that poisonous water being released in ‘Heerdin Drain’ by Balochistan had destroyed thousands of acres of fertile land in the belt that had once been very familiar for its wheat crop.

He said that animals and human drink this highly polluted and contaminated water.

He said that animals were dying and land ruined but the rulers had no time to ponder over the situation.

Mr Mahisar and Ishaque Mughiri demanded that the should take urgent measures to release water and ensure availability of certified seeds to yield good paddy crop.