MIRPURKHAS, Aug 14: Around 150-foot breach occurred in the bank of Lakhakhi minor canal in the Hussain Bux Mari area on Tuesday as a result seven villages and crops standing on 400 acres of land came under water.

The regulator of the canal was damaged due to pressure of water. Water gushing out of the breach flooded the villages of Yar Mohammad Mari, Khalid Mari, Daimabad, Abdul Qadir Khoso, Khadim Khoso, Allah Warayo Khaskheli and Khalid Mari and crops of cotton, chilli and vegetable.

Residents of the villages along with their cattle took shelter on the banks of West Jamrao Canal.

Irrigation staff did not reach the place of the breach and the villagers hired excavators, collected dry wood and started plugging the breach on self-help basis.

However, the breach could not be plugged till late Tuesday evening.

A villager, Mashooq Mari, told Dawn that earlier they had repeatedly informed the irrigation officials about the dilapidated condition of the regulator, installed in British era, but no action was taken.

He alleged that inefficiency of irrigation official had caused the breach which had made them suffer considerable losses.

Another villager, Mumtaz Mari, called upon the higher authorities to order an impartial inquiry into the cause of the breach.

Executive engineer of Jamrao Canal, Ghulam Mustafa Jalbani, blamed a contractor for the breach by saying that he had been hired to repair the regulator but had failed to accomplish the job so far.