BAHAWALPUR, Jan 1: A one-month desiltation campaign has been launched in Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar and Rahim Yar Khan of the Bahawalpur irrigation zone on self-help basis.

This was stated by Bahawalpur Irrigation Zone Chief Engineer Muhammad Usman Akram at a press conference here on Wednesday.

He said a total 66 perennial and non-perennial canals with a total length of 431 miles would be desilted during the period. He said 18.7 million cubic feet of silt would be removed with the help of 2,443 people and 212 tractors.

Tractor owners, he said, would be paid for the diesel while the people would have to work voluntarily under the supervision of desilting committees comprising representatives of cultivators and irrigation officials.

Mr Akram said that only in the Bahawalpur district, the silt would be removed from a total length of 72 mile long of 12 perennial and non-perennial canals.

For this purpose, he said canals in the Bahawalnagar district had already been closed from Dec 30 while canals in Bahawalpur and Rahim Yar Khan districts would be closed from Jan 13 and 14, respectively.

He said the rehabilitation work of the Abbasia Link Canal had been completed and it was expected that this canal would be commissioned on Jan 10.

A mini-dam for the Cholistani people had been completed while the dam at Derawar was now being filled up to supply water for the wheat crop in February and March, he said.

The chief engineer said the mini-dam cost Rs7.9 million and had a water capacity of 5.1 million cft which would irrigate about 292 acres of land. The dam’s water could also be utilized for drinking purposes for Cholistanis and their herds during the shortage of water in the desert, he added.

NGOs DEMAND: Local NGOs demanded that authorities concerned should suspended SI Shabbir Shah and ASI Amir Maqbool for torturing and registering a false case against the NGO Alfateh Development chief, Jamshed Karim.