FAISALABAD, Nov 5: Already hit by drought, farmers from Jhang Branch canal command area say they have been pushed to the wall by corrupt Irrigation officials.

“Warabandi (watering turn) is fixed in a way to benefit those who grease the palm of the corrupt,” a delegation of UC Nazimeen and their deputies told a news conference here on Tuesday.

It comprised MPA-elect Aftab Ahmad Khan, Ch Zulfiqar Ali, Dilbar Hameed, Ikhtiar Ahmed, Haji Muhammad Sarwar, Rana Muhammad Tahir, Akhtar Mehmood Khan, Tariq Mehmood and over three dozen naib nazimeen and councillors from Chak 66-JB, 67-JB, and adjoining villages of Thikriwala.

They threatened to block traffic on roads and besiege the offices of Irrigation department in case water was not released in the Jhang Branch in next 48 hours.

They said that area executive engineer and other irrigation officials had approached the farmers along the Jhang Branch canal to get bribes. “But when we refused to grease their palms, they scheduled the Warabandi in a way to teach us a lesson.”

According to them, wheat sowing in their area would be affected badly if water was not distributed judiciously.