LARKANA, Aug 7: MNA Ms Faryal Talpur asked chief engineer of irrigation department on Thursday to cancel staff’s leave and deploy them at vulnerable points along canals to avert a possibility of disaster.

In a meeting with growers and irrigation officials in Shahdadkot Ms Talpur asked Right Bank Chief Engineer Agha Aijaz to divert flow of Heerdin Drain, carrying poisonous water from Balochistan, away from residential areas of Shahdadkot.

She stressed the need for strengthening the weak points, which had developed breaches last year and said the problem of irrigation water number was the gravest of problems facing Qambar-Shahdadkot district.

She said that Rangers personnel had been deployed at Grang Regulator (key distribution point between Sindh and Balochistan) and they also patrolled Saifulah Magsi Branch and Khirthar Canal to ensure distribution of water in a just manner.

The chief engineer dismissed fears an imminent flood danger from water coming from Balochistan and hoped it would calmly pass Shahdadkot and flow into Manchhar Lake.

The desilting of 71 water channels fed by Saifullah Magsi branch would be undertaken at a cost of Rs73 million and the tail-enders would surely get water after availability of 950,000 cusec of water, he said.

Ms Faryal said that a joint team of experts from irrigation and agriculture departments would be formed to help overcome shortage of water in this area, which had been a constituency of Ms Benazir Bhutto.

She later attended a reception hosted in her honour by Sardar Mohammed Bakhsh Khuhawar. On Friday she was scheduled to perform ground breaking ceremony for 132 KV Larkana-III grid station on Bakrani road.

GAS: Ms Talpur said at ground breaking ceremony for gas supply to Arzi Bhutto and Sujawal Junejo villages on Wednesday that under the prime minister’s package more than 50 villages in Larkana and Qambar-Shahdadkot districts would be provided gas at a cost of Rs200 million.