DADU, July 21: The Gul Mohammad Wah, originating from the Rice Canal, developed a 100-foot breach in the Bangli village, near the Mehar town, on Wednesday.

The breach water damaged paddy crops standing on 200 acres and cotton crops on 1,000 acres.

Residents of Bangli and Brohi villages were busy in plugging the breach. The affected farmers held a demonstration on the Indus Highway near Mehar against negligence of irrigation officials.

They said the officials had been informed about the breach but no one had visited the site. Our Nawabshah Correspondent adds: A 30-foot wide breach occurred in the Setharki Minor at RD-20 near the Ali Mardan Mari village on Monday and damaged cotton crop spreading over 180 acres of land.

However, villagers and irrigation officials plugged the breach after hours of struggle. The water channel lies in the jurisdiction of the Nusrat division of the irrigation department, where a breach in the Gujra Canal and another in its tributary Khiyaryoon Branch inundated most parts of the old Nawabshah in last week of June. The incident was followed by another breach in the Sujawal Minor on June 30.

When contacted, no irrigation official was available at the office of the Nusrat division to provide information about the cause of the breach in the Setharki Minor. A telephone operator at the office said that he was not aware of the breach.

He said that Khair Mohammad Dahri, an SDO who had been given additional charge of the executive engineer of the Nusrat division, had been transferred after the earlier breaches and was now posted as the SDO of Shahpur Chakar sub-division. He added that Superintending Engineer of the Rohri circle Manzoor Magsi had been given extra charge of the executive engineer of Nusrat division.