DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Delay in the approval of PC-I for various water management projects in Dera Ismail Khan has caused growing concern among farmers and contractors, with cultivators facing serious difficulties and contractors announcing protests over non-payment of their outstanding dues.

They have warned of protests outside the office of the director general of water management and legal action in the Peshawar High Court if pending payments are not cleared.

Talking to media persons, they said around Rs230 million to Rs240 million in payments remained outstanding, causing financial difficulties for contractors and affecting the completion of irrigation improvement projects in the district.

The issue related to the Chashma Right Bank Canal (CRBC), a 272km irrigation project stretching from Mianwali through Dera Ismail Khan to Dera Ghazi Khan, irrigating over 600,000 acres of land, they said, adding around 61 per cent of the command area falls in Dera Ismail Khan.

Contractors, farmers warn of legal action

Although the CRBC project, initiated in 1980s, was completed in 2000, farmers continued to face serious difficulties in transporting water from main distributaries to their fields because of unlined watercourses and earthen channels.

To address this problem, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government launched several watercourse lining schemes under the On-Farm Water Management programme of the agriculture department, with participation from farmers and landowners. Billions of rupees from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and the provincial Annual Development Programme were spent on hundreds of schemes aimed at improving irrigation efficiency and strengthening the local agricultural economy.

However, in recent months, payments to contractors and suppliers from the On-Farm Water Management office in Dera Ismail Khan have reportedly been halted, bringing new schemes to a standstill and leaving completed projects unpaid.

Material suppliers Malik Mushtaq, Malik Rodyar Bittani, Muhammad Arif Mahsud and Irshad Khan Barkzai said they had completed work on several schemes but their bills had remained unpaid for months.

“We are people of a poor region and cannot bear such long delays in payments. Our financial difficulties are increasing and new lining work has also stopped,” they said.

Local farmers Malik Muhammad Irfan and Malik Abdul Razzaq said the lining of watercourses had been a major relief for growers, but work had remained suspended for a long time.

Chamber of agriculture leader and lawyer Malik Khalid Awan said Dera Ismail Khan was the only district in the province where such large-scale lining work was being carried out in the CRBC command area.

He warned that if funds were not released immediately, farmers would be forced to approach the Peshawar High Court for relief. Progressive farmer Malik Yahya Chejra said Dera Ismail Khan is the province’s largest producer of sugarcane, wheat, rice, maize, dates and mangoes and nearly 80 per cent of the province’s agricultural economy depended on the district.

He said that under the World Bank-funded Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Irrigated Agriculture Improvement Project (KP-IAIP), nearly Rs1.5 billion had been distributed among around 40 districts, but Dera Ismail Khan received only Rs30 million.

“Despite being the province’s agricultural hub, Dera is being treated unfairly,” he said.

When contacted, Director General Water Management Wing of the agriculture department Hayatullah Khan said the KP-IAIP was a World Bank-funded project and its PC-I had already been approved by the Central Development Working Party (CDWP).

He said it had now been sent to the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) for final approval. He said the Ecnec meeting, chaired by the prime minister or deputy prime minister, had been delayed due to the prevailing situation, but funds would be released immediately after approval.

Mr Hayatullah said the department ensured equal distribution of funds across districts, adding that Dera Ismail Khan remained a priority because of its importance as the province’s agricultural hub.

Published in Dawn, May 3rd, 2026