KHAIRPUR, June 22: Growers of the Dinal Minor, fed from the Abdul Wah west feeder, Kingri taluka, continued their protest for the second consecutive day on Tuesday by staging a sit-in outside the local press club.
They were protesting against non-release of irrigation water in the canal. Speaking to the protesters, Liaquat Ali Phulpoto said that due to non-availability of water, their crops standing over thousands of acres of land were dying.
He alleged that irrigation officials were selling water to influential landlords of the area. On Monday, the growers, led by Liaquat Ali Phulpoto, held a demonstration outside the district nazim's office to protest against alleged excesses of the acting executive engineer.
They told journalists that irrigation officials had suspended water supply on the pretext of de-siltation while alleging that the engineer was demanding illegal gratification.
Meanwhile, growers of the Khan Wah continued their protest for the second consecutive day by taking out a procession in Thari Mirwah to protest against the shortage of water.
Speaking to the protesters, their leaders said that their crops had been adversely affected because of the water shortage and added that the de-silting machine had also gone out of order. They said that officials had told them that water could not be released in the canal until the machine was repaired.
POWER PROTEST: Residents of Neebaho Shah, Ansari, Hyderi, Qaim Khani and Eidgah mohallas took out a procession in Thari Mirwah town on Tuesday to protest against power suspension, besides staging a sit-in outside the local press club.
They said that the transformer set up to supply power to their areas had gone out of order and was not repaired despite a lapse of 15 days, forcing them to face hardships. The protesters threatened to observe a shutter-down strike if power supply was not restored in 24 hours.
POWER SUSPENSION: The DPO office as well as the police lines, comprising about 30 quarters, and other adjoining offices remained without electricity for the past three days.
A transformer of the police lines went out of order for the third consecutive day on Monday, supplying power to about 30 family quarters of the police lines, DPO office, ASP (city) office, DSP headquarters and the DIB branch.
