HYDERABAD: The Sindh Growers Alliance (SGA) on Wednesday appealed to army chief General Raheel Sharif to hold the Sindh government accountable for the “poor governance and rampant corruption” claiming that the agriculture sector in Sindh was being destroyed by ineptness of Sukkur barrage officials.

Speaking at a press conference at the local press club, SGA president Zubair Ahmed Talpur, along with other office-bearers, said that vast farmlands in the province depended on Rohri and Nara canals emanating from Sukkur barrage. Currently, the sowing of cotton, chilli and paddy was under way but it was seriously affected by a shortage of irrigation water in the canals, he said, adding that tail-end growers had not been receiving water even for drinking for several weeks.

Accompanied by SGA senior vice-president Mir Zafarullah Talpur, information secretary Mir Abdul Karim Talpur and others, Zubair Talpur said his organisation no more pinned its hope on the chief minister that he would be able to address the issues being faced by small growers, who had their lands in the tail-end areas of various districts.

Fertile lands supposed to be fed through Rohri canal were being ruined due to unavailability of water and the indifferent attitude of irrigation employees could be gauged from the fact that they had been observing a strike for three weeks in such a situation, he said.

Mr Talpur urged the government to take urgent and serious decisions leading to an end to the water shortage and irrigation employees strike so as to avoid unbearable losses both to growers and the agriculture sector.

Speaking about the urgency of the matter, the SGA chief said that if water from Sukkur barrage was released into the canals today, it would reach the tail-end areas after 10 to 15 days.

Accusing the provincial government of having adopted an anti-growers policy, he observed that growers were desperately seeking release of water though it was abundantly available to the province.

He noted that the Sindh government had obtained Rs35 billion from World Bank for the rehabilitation of canals emanating from Sukkur barrage and the irrigation channels being managed by the Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority (Sida).

He said growers wanted that foreign consultants were appointed to ensure proper and quality works on such projects. He also called for fixing the cotton price as was being fixed for sugar cane, wheat and rice.

Mir Zafarullah Talpur announced that tail-end growers in every district would take to the streets if the government did not pay attention to their grievances within a week.

He said that Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah was not ready to listen to their woes. He said that non-release of water in two main Rohri and Nara canals was ruining thousands of acres of lands and the worst-hit were the areas fed by other channels such as Naseer, Jamrao and Mithrao canals. The situation was deteriorating with each passing day devastating tail-end growers in Khairpur Gambo, Naukot, Jhuddo, Badin, Tando Allahyar, Mirpurkhas and other areas.

The SGA leaders said that sowing of cotton, chilli and paddy had started in the first week of this month and growers had just four more weeks to complete it. “We have no time to lose now,” they said, and urged the government to take immediate steps for the release of water to save small growers from further losses as they had already suffered a collective loss of Rs20 million in terms of delays in the opening of canals.

They criticised the provincial government for failing to ensure a smooth functioning of the irrigation system and address issues of growers and agriculture sector. They appealed to the army chief to take notice of the poor governance which was ruining the entire agriculture sector in the province and causing huge losses to the national economy.

Meanwhile, a large number small growers, who have been holding protests in Malkani Sharif town for the last three days against a shortage of water in irrigation channels managed by the Khairpur-Gumbo sub-division, proceeded to the Pangrio-Jhuddo Road and held a sit-in for three hours on Wednesday, a correspondent in Badin adds.

Sindh Abadgar Tanzeem president Pir Fayyaz Hussain Rashdi, Lutfullah Malkani, Malik Tariq Mehmood and others leading the protesters told newsmen that the irrigation department and provincial government were paying no heed to their calls for an end to the water shortage persisting in their areas for months.

They alleged that unscrupulous elements within the irrigation department were diverting small growers’ share in water to illegal ‘direct outlets’ installed by influential big landowners. “This has caused an artificial shortage of water in our areas,” they claimed, and insisted that the government must take appropriate action against such illegal practices which were ruining fertile lands of small and tail-end growers.

They warned of a shutdown in Malkani Sharif if their demand continued to be ignored.

Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2016