HYDERABAD: The irrigation workers supposed to carry out maintenance of barrages and canals have warned of imminent heavy losses to government if neglect of the installations, waterways and assets persists.

Speaking at a press conference in the local press club on Saturday, office-bearers of the Kotri Barrage’s Feeder Division Employees Union (CBA), said that the irrigation department was not utilising heavy machinery of mechanical division for de-silting of water channels and maintenance of barrages’ gates.

Rather, they added, all these works were being either outsourced or shown on record through the bills being prepared as formalities.

“Heavy machineries of the mechanical division worth billions of rupees are rusting but they are not being utilised,” they lamented. They recalled that the Sindh government had in 2001 directed that 75pc of all such works should be carried out by employees of the mechanical division who would use these machineries.

Kotri irrigation workers blame official neglect, outsourcing and corruption for ‘imminent losses’ to government

CBA’s patron Qazi Rafiq, general secretary Mohammad Ashraf Kolachi, joint secretary Raza Mohammad Shoro and other leaders said they had repeatedly been raising this issue over the last four-five years but no one was paying heed to their calls.

They alleged financial indiscipline on the part of irrigation secretary, Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority (Sida) managing director, chief engineer of Kotri Barrage and certain other officials and officers and attributed the situation to their negligence and wrongdoings.

They also held ‘outsourcing’ responsible for delays and rusting of the department’s heavy machinery and equipment, pointing out that desilting of canals was not being done and, as a result, unrest among growers over shortage of water was mounting.

They alleged that the district accounts office (DAO) officials were also hand in glove with irrigation department officers, arguing that despite being aware of government’s directives, they would pass the bills against such works without going into the terms and conditions for the jobs. “They know these works could not have been executed without involvement of the mechanical division,” they said.

“If mechanical division performs these jobs then it will save government’s money but this is not being done,” Mr Kolachi said, and added that it was tantamount to causing financial losses to the province. Tail-end areas were not getting flows for want of desilting, he noted.

The CBA leaders alleged that a group of officers was dominating the irrigation department, and wondered that nobody was asking them about financial indiscipline.

Complaining about officers’ indifferent attitude, Mr Kolachi said that whenever they were approached with plea to pay attention to the issues, we are told: “you are getting salaries therefore you should not be worried how the works of desilting and maintenance are executed”.

He said that the CBA now intended to move high court in this regard.

The leaders said that the judiciary and National Accounta­bility Bureau (NAB) should take notice of the situation.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2025