DADU, July 6: A large number of growers whose land lies along 10 waterways fed by the Rice and Dadu canals demonstrated outside the Khairpur Nathan Shah Press Club on Saturday to protest against the acute water shortage in the area.

The demonstration suspended traffic for three hours.

The protesters led by President of the Abadgar Association Taluka Khairpur Nathan Shah, Ghani Qureshi, and growers Mohammad Nawaz Bhurgari, comrade Abbas Chandio and Sikandar Khoso accused irrigation officials of selling water to influential farmers at the head of the Dadu and Rice canals.

They said that waterways, including Kudan Shakh, Khuda wah, and Nara distry, Pechuho wah and Bego Dero and Mir Mohammad Shakh had dried up and more than 100,000 acres fed by these waterways will become barren. They demanded the removal of engineers of Rice and Dadu canals of southern division Dadu.

A large number of villages near the embankments of these waterways were facing shortage of drinking water and small growers were holding daily protests but no official had so far taken any action, they regretted.