THATTA, Oct 23: Speakers at a conference held on Friday said construction of controversial water projects would ruin fertile lands of Sindh and subsequently lead to increase in poverty in the province as it depended on agriculture.

The Sindhi Hari Tehrik had organized the Larr Hari Conference in the Jabal Detho village, 52 kilo meters off Thatta. Hundreds of peasants, including women and children, activists of NGOs and people from Badin and Thatta districts attended the conference.

The speakers, including Gul Hassan Kirano, Mamoon Detho, Abdul Gani Palijo, Ghulam Hussain Solangi, Mujahid Malihyo, and Mola Bux Zaur, criticized feudal lords and politicians of Sindh for their weak stance on the issue of water projects.

They alleged that elected representatives were working for their own ends, neglecting important issues confronting the province.

They said the area under wheat and rice cultivation had declined by 29.5 and 20.9 per cent, respectively, in Sindh as compared to a decline of 1.7 and 5.5 per cent, respectively, in the country.

The speakers said due to drought-like situation, shortage of water in canals, sea intrusion and salinity in Sindh, poverty in rural areas of the province had reached the level of 80-90 per cent. They said unemployment had increased from 25 per cent in 1990 to 36.1 per cent in 2002.

They said lands in Sindh, having cultivable area of 141,014 square kilometres at tail-end of the River Indus, would gradually be ruined if adequate remedial measures were not taken.

They criticized government agriculture policies and said in Punjab tube-wells were exempted of electricity charges but not in Sindh.

They said adulteration in pesticides and fertilizers and high prices of agricultural inputs had multiplied miseries of farmers.

About lining of watercourses, they said due to recent canal desilting, the bed level of channels had lowered and lining of watercourses on the existing bed level would be of no benefit.