SANGHAR, Jan 19: Lack of proper care and maintenance has rendered nine of the 15 water gates on the Nara Canal at Jamrao headwork rust-eaten and worn out with large holes. Some of the gates have split into two, making it almost impossible to move them up or down. Besides, a large amount of silt has accumulated on the canal’s bed.

The Nara Canal system comprising Nara, Jamrao, Mithrao and Khipro canals fed by Sukkur Barrage irrigates about 700,000 acres of land in Khairpur, Nawabshah, Sanghar, Mirpurkhas, Umerkot and Badin districts. Its water carrying capacity is about 16,000 cusec.

The canals are closed every year on Jan 6 for 20 days for repair, maintenance and desilting but the irrigation authorities appear not to have taken any notice of the worn out gates during the current closure period.

Farmers fear that if the gates are not repaired in time, they cannot withstand water pressure when the canal flows to its full capacity. If any gate is washed away, the whole headwork will collapse causing a major catastrophe for the region, they said.

Talking to Dawn, Anwar Mehmood Nizamani, Hassan Askari and Umer Khan Khattak of the Small Growers Association said that the authorities should have started the repairs at the outset of annual canal closure period.

Now that wheat and other crops were in crucial stage and wheat was in the stage of grain formation, any extension in the canal closure period would be harmful for the crops, they feared.