MIRPURKHAS, Aug 19: Although entire Sindh is facing severe water shortage, the situation is alarming in Mirpurkhas district located at the tail-end of canals originating from Sukkur Barrage — and particularly its two talukas where even drinking water is hard to find.

A large part of Sindhri taluka has been facing an acute shortage of drinking water over the past few months, causing immense hardship to the residents.

The worst affected areas include the towns of Girhore, Doulatabad, Phuladiyoon, Hashimabad, Hingorno and Ismail Kumbhar and adjoining villages situated at the tail-end Doso Distributary fed by Mithrao Canal.

The tail-end reaches of the distributary have not received any water over the past four months, according to growers’ leaders.

Talking to this correspondent, President of the Abadgar Action Forum, Sindhri taluka, Maghan Halepoto, and secretary Sikiladho Rahimoon said that water ponds in the towns and villages were dry. Therefore, they added, 100,000 people of the area had to fetch drinking water from hand pumps and far flung areas. “Hundreds of villagers have migrated from the area and over 30,000 acres of fertile land has been rendered barren.

On the other hand, they alleged, landlords at the upper reaches of the distributary were stealing water by tempering with watercourses. They also blamed mismanagement by irrigation officials for the water crisis.

The farmers’ leaders alleged that elected representatives of their areas were not taking any interest in addressing their grievance.

They called upon the director of the Nara Canal Area Water Board, Ghulam Mustafa Ujjan, to seal misused watercourses, deploy Rangers along the distributary and ensure water supply to the tail-end areas.

Jhuddo taluka has been facing a similar situation over the past few weeks.

Farmer Khalid Pervez Arain and former councillors Shamshad Ali Rajput and Ayaz Khoso told reporters the taluka was situated at the tail-end of Nara Canal system and received water through East Jamrao Canal.A few weeks ago, they said, irrigation officials tried to improve supply but some influential landlords at the upper reaches of the canal foiled their attempts by forcibly opening three distributaries — Dilari, Jawaryasar and Kot Ghulam Mohammad minor — which had been closed under water rotation programme.

Later, they said, Rangers were called in to stop water theft and they were still deployed along the canal. “However, Jhuddo taluka is still facing a serious shortage as its turn to get water is yet to come.” When contacted, the director of the water board, Ghulam Mustafa Ujjan, said that water from the East Jamrao Canal was at present being supplied to five distributaries of Kot Ghulam Mohammad taluka under the rotation programme, adding that supply to Jhuddo taluka would resume from Aug 21.

He admitted that Jhuddo taluka had been severely affected as water supply had been disconnected thrice in a month, due to forcible opening of the three distributaries, a strike by irrigation officials and a breach in the bank of Lakhakhi minor canal.