KARAK: The local farmers have complained that they’ve no water to irrigate the standing maize crops due to the damaged spillways and faulty regulating valve of Changhoz dam.

They told reporters here on Friday that the supply of water to their fields in Latamber, Kamali Banda, Changhoz and dozens of adjacent areas had come to a halt due to the waste of water from the dam, which had damaged spillways and faulty regulating valve.

Yasinullah said heavy rains had damaged spillways of the dam lately but the relevant authorities had yet to repair them to prevent waste of water.

The farmers also said the regulating valve, which was repaired by the contractor recently, was damaged again and thus, causing water to go to waste.

They claimed that a large number of fish had died in the past after the dam dried up.

The farmers claimed that the crops were badly damaged in the last season with farmers suffering huge losses.

They added that they’re struggling to irrigate the standing crops of maize and others on their land as the water channels had no water for them in the current season.

The farmers demanded early repair of the spillways and regulating valve of Changhoz dam to prevent further loss of water and thus, restoring water supply to them.

They warned that if the relevant authorities didn’t take necessary corrective measures for resolving the issue, then the people of the area would be left with no option but to take to the streets against it.

Published in Dawn, June 16th, 2018