SUKKUR, June 1: Activists of the Upper Sindh Irrigation Employees Union, Gudu Barrage, closed the Pat Feeder Canal on Sunday in protest against the kidnapping of four employees of the irrigation department.

Earlier on Saturday, the staff of the Gudu Barrage had threatened the government that water supply to the canal would be suspended on Sunday if the kidnapped employees were not recovered in 24 hours.

The Gudu Barrage’s control room staff, talking to this correspondent, confirmed that the employees had closed the canal which fed land in Balochistan.

Sources in the irrigation department said that water level at the canal had dropped from 14,000 cusec to 8,000 cusec after the closure. They said if the canal remained closed for another 24 hours, it would completely be dried up.

The matter of the closure of the canal was brought to the notice of Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali and Sindh Chief Minister Ali Mohammad Mahar during their visit to Balochistan and the interior of Sindh.

Meanwhile, about 150 irrigation department employees and leaders of the Upper Sindh Irrigation Union, Gudu Barrage, staged a sit-in front of the Desert Pat Feeder Canal on Sunday against the kidnapping of four employees of the department.

They raised slogans against the police and the district administration and threatened that the canal would not be opened till the employees were recovered.