MIRPURKHAS, Feb 13: Mirpurkhas district council has demanded of the Sindh government to declare Mirpurkhas district A calamity hit area.

The council ALSO demanded to grant remission in agriculture taxes, suspend recovery of the loan for three years and launch a package to the affected growers of the district.

The meeting was held here on Wednesday to discuss the acute water shortage. District Naib Nazim Nawab Mohammad Younus Talpur had convened the meeting.

The opposition members led by Zulfiqar Ali Junejo boycotted the meeting for few hours.

The members charged the Irrigation officials with selling water and held them responsible for the shortage of water in the district.

Some of the members said that their areas were deprived of even drinking water while their crops had been completely destroyed.

When a resolution passed in the previous session supporting Gen Pervez Musharraf for five years as president came for confirmation in the meeting, most of the members opposed the resolution.

Syed Ali Gohar Shah told the meeting that about 70,000 acres had been transferred to Nara Canal from Rohri Canal but its water share was not transferred to Nara Canal.

He said that a committee had been formed which would conduct surprise raid to detect the excesses.

Meanwhile, hundreds of growers of taluka Digri under the banner of the Tail-end Abadgar Association staged a demonstration against acute shortage of water outside the office of EDO revenue here on Wednesday.

They were carrying banners and placards and chanting slogans against the Irrigation officers.

The growers’ leaders Mohammad Aslam Qaimkhani, Mir Mushtaq Talpur and others told newsmen that their lands were at the tail end of the Jamrao Canal in which water scarcity had continued despite repeated complaints.

They deplored that even people had been deprived of drinking water for the last two months.

They added that hundreds of families were affected due to acute water shortage in the district and had migrated to other districts in search of livelihood.

They demanded of the Sindh governor to declare the district calamity hit area, suspend the recovery of loan of the ADBP and announce remission in the agriculture taxes.