SAHIWAL: As many as 294 farmers and other individuals, including officials of Saif Power Plant in Qadirabad and office-bearers of political parties and farmers’ organisations, have been booked for allegedly stealing irrigation water over the past five months, according to the local irrigation department.

Sahiwal Lower Bari Doab Canal Executive Engineer (EXEN) Mr Talha said the provincial government had directed the department to take strict action against water theft.

According to reports, several cases of alleged water theft have been registered in different villages of the area. At Chak 63/5-L, a farmer, Sadiq, allegedly broke a water outlet (moga) and diverted irrigation water to his fields and those of other shareholders.

At Chak 62/5-L, Muhammad Zawar, Abdul Razzaq, Riaz, Shaukat and Manzoor were accused of damaging a water outlet to steal water and supply it to fellow shareholders. Similarly, Muhammad Yaqoob, Mehboob Alam and Falak Sher allegedly damaged an outlet at Chak 61/5-L to divert irrigation water.

On the night of June 14, Arshad, Farooq, Ramzan, Younis and Master Salman allegedly broke a water outlet at Chak 65/5-L and diverted water to irrigate their fields.

In the same village, Khalid Masih and Muhammad Makhdoom were also accused of damaging irrigation infrastructure.

On Aug 10, Yousaf, Ahmed, Ali, Sadiq and Bashir Ahmed allegedly broke a water outlet and stole irrigation water at Chak 61/5-L.

At Chak 56/5-L, Munir Ahmed Baloch, the head of Saif Power Plant, along with others, was accused of damaging a water outlet and illegally diverting irrigation water. Several other individuals were also accused of using the stolen water to irrigate their agricultural land.

At Chak 66/5-L, also known as Katorwala, 15 people, including Iqrar, Yaseen, Alam Sher, Jahan Khan, Muhammad Iqbal, Manzoor Ahmed, Zahoor Ahmed, Talib, Altaf, Amjad, Ghulam Fareed, Furqan and Khalid, allegedly broke a water outlet and diverted water to their fields.

In another case at Chak 56/5-L, Muhammad Aslam, Jameel, Khalid Zaman, Azam and Asif Nazir were accused of stealing irrigation water to irrigate their land through unauthorised means.

At Chak 48/5-L, 13 people, including Muhammad Sharif, Zulfiqar, Hanif, Mushtaq Ahmed, Sardar, Akhtar Ali, Zahid, Anwar, Iqbal, Amjad, Sarwar and Manzoor, were accused of illegally diverting irrigation water to their fields.

In another case at Chak 61/5-L, Arsalan and 54 others were also booked for alleged water theft.

The irrigation department referred the cases to the local police. Yousafwala police registered 12 cases under Sections 163, 166, 170 and 175 of the Punjab Irrigation, Drainage and Rivers Act, 2023, on the complaint of SDO Muhammad Saqib Ali.

The police have launched investigations into the cases with no arrests.

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2026