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MIRPURKHAS, May 18: Growers of Kunri, Samaro and other talukas held demonstrations and blocked main roads in different areas of the district on Monday to protest against acute water shortage.
Led by Qazi Sadiq, Shah Mohammad and Zulfiqar Khaskheli, the growers of the Bustaan Channel, near Kunri taluka, blocked the main Mirpurkhas-Kunri road and also burnt tyres.
They demanded that water should be released immediately in the channel as standing crops of cotton, chili, sugarcane as well as vegetables were being badly affected.
The growers of the Tobhan distributary also blocked the Kunri-Samaro road in protest. They said that the distributary was lying dry for the past one month and not a single drop of water was available even for drinking.
Another demonstration was held on the Umerkot-Mirpurkhas road in the lead of Haroon Memon union council nazim Faqir Mohammad. The protesters also blocked the Mirpurkhas-Samaro, Jhuddo, Kunri and Umerkot roads, causing suspension of traffic.
The protesters demanded immediate supply of water to their areas as well as transfers of the Nara Canal director Agha Aijaz and Mithrao Canal XEN Khalid Larik. The protesting growers warned that their protest would continue till the acceptance of their demands.
SUSPENDED SUPPLY: Water supply to many areas of the city remains suspended for the last few months which has led to hardship to the residents who are forced to bring water from far- flung areas.
Many complaints have been received from Pak, Ghausia, Nawab and Raja colonies as well as Khad plot, Gharibabad and Ayub Nagar areas. Saleh Mohammad, Muneer Ahmed, Mohammad Kallan, Shoaib Raja, Kamran Khan, Rizwan, Faisal Khan and others, on Tuesday, told this correspondent that water was not available in their respective areas despite repeated complaints.
They said that they had held protest demonstrations outside the taluka municipal administration office but to no avail and added that they were facing great difficulty even in getting potable water. The residents demanded that higher authorities should take immediate notice of the situation and ensure water supply to their localities.
