HYDERABAD, July 10: The Sindh Abadgar Board has expressed concern over 46 per cent shortage of water in Sindh and the scheduled rotation programme at the Kotri Barrage from July 15.

In a statement issued here on Saturday, SAB president Abdul Majeed Nizamani said even those areas were facing water shortage where only paddy crop was cultivated.

He said unrest among growers of Larkana, Jacobabad, Shikarpur and the Kotri Barrage command area was quite natural and understandable.

He said growers had held protest demonstrations and observed hunger strikes at over 1,000 water channels in the province

Mr Nizamani said seedlings had been destroyed in Larkana Khirthar and Saifullah Magsi Barrage areas where tube-wells had been installed on 26 channels.

He said seeds could only be planted after June 25 in the Kotri Barrage area where crops were usually sown in April.

He said contrary to the situation in Sindh, supply of water and cultivation of crops had remained quite satisfactory in Punjab.

The growers' leader said no water channel in Sindh was functioning according to its design. He regretted that modules were being broken and tampered with.

Mr Nizamani appealed to the Sindh chief minister and the irrigation minister to intervene in the matter and rectify the situation.

He demanded that full supply of water should be restored in the Larkana Khirthar and Saifullah Magsi circles, water should be supplied into the Kotri Barrage in accordance with the 1991 water accord and the rotation programme should be abolished.

He also appealed to the chief minister to take notice of excesses of Rangers against people of Sindh.

DRUG DEALERS: The pharmaceutical market remained closed following a police raid on the shop and house of a medicine dealer and the subsequent arrest of the dealer and his partner on Thursday evening.