HYDERABAD, April 28: Water is standing on the farmland in Deh Abri where a 50-foot breach had occurred in the Rohri Canal on Sunday night, as the irrigation authorities have apparently failed to cope up with the situation.

The villagers told this correspondent on Wednesday that only to satisfy the Sindh irrigation minister, some work was initiated but serious efforts were not taken to drain out the breach water.

Lal Malook Zardari, Mir Ghulam Akbar, Ghulam Akbar Shoro and others said that the irrigation authorities had assured them that the number of pumping machines, installed to drain out the water, would be doubled on Wednesday but it had not been done and even the existing machines were not properly working.

They said that standing crop of sugarcane, recently-sown cotton and harvested wheat had been damaged. They said that around six families had taken shelter in the Government Elementary school, Khesana Mori, but they were not provided any aid.

They said that the breach had occurred because the irrigation officials had fixed a pipe in the canal to take water for a nearby park with the result that the embankment of the canal was rendered weak.

The villagers were quite critical of irrigation officials concerned, accusing them of corruption. A landholder of the area and Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) leader Allah Bux Magsi said that a junior officer, who was only a diploma holder, was working on the post of the Naseer division, irrigation department.

He levelled allegations of corruption against the superintending engineer of Naseer division, Manzoor Magsi, and said that he and the executive engineer had been harassing farmers.

He said that he had provided food to the labourers plugging the breach with his peasants while no irrigation official was present at that time. He demanded suspension of the two officials who could not be contacted in their offices for their version.

The Taluka Nazim, Hyderabad (rural), Ghulam Ali Gopang, said that over 700 acres of land, including mango orchards, had been seriously affected. He said that breach water had entered ten villages and added that the victims were not being provided any succour by any government agency.

The Nazim also held the irrigation department responsible for the breach. The breach had been plugged on Monday and the embankment is being strengthened by the irrigation staff with the help of the villagers and peasants.