HYDERABAD, March 20 The Sindh Abadgar Board has urged the federal ministry for agriculture to immediately release funds for completing work on lining watercourses in Sindh before the year-end.

In a communication to the federal minister, SAB president Abdul Majeed Nizamani said that the federal government had earmarked Rs3 billion for lining of about 6,000 watercourses in Sindh during the current financial year ending on June 30.

But the province had been provided only a paltry amount of Rs425 million till date, which was only 11 per cent of the total allocation, he said.

Mr Nizamani said that growers were aware of the financial constraints of the government but it did not mean that Sindh should be provided only 11 per cent of the total allocation over a period of nine months.

He reminded the minister that there were as many as 45,000 watercourses on the three barrages of the province and being at the fag end of the Indus river system, the province was also the worst sufferer with regard to water supply.

He said that a large quantity of water could be saved if all watercourses were lined and it was high time the government rose to the occasion and released the remaining amount to complete work on lining in the last three months.