BADIN: Growers from across Badin district and its adjoining areas travelled to Shaheed Fazil Rahu (formerly Golarchi) town on Tuesday and took out a rally before converging on the local press club to draw the provincial government’s attention to the water crisis which, they said, was deepening with each passing day.

Demonstrations by the crisis-hit growers were also held at several other places in the district.

Leaders of the protesting growers repeated their claim that unscrupulous elements within the irrigation department were continuing with their practice of diverting whatever quantity of water was available in the Indus and canals to the lands of influential political figures. However, Irrigation Minister Ismail Rahu attributed the crisis entirely to 30 per cent lesser flows from Punjab into the Indus than Sindh’s actual share.

Led by Maulana Fateh Moham­mad Mehri, Azizullah Dero, Abdul Salam Arain, Mehmood Shaikh and others who represented their respective political parties and growers’ organisations, the protesting growers started their march from Shaheed Fazal Rahu Chowk and held a sit-in at Ahmed Rajo Road.

People from all walks of life — perturbed over unavailability of clean drinking water and having been made to depend on subsoil source — joined them in a large number. They also remained with the growers when the march was resumed to take the participants to the press club.

Speaking to them, the leaders expressed their serious concern over the deepening water crisis in Sindh and wondered why nothing was being done on the part of the federal and provincial authorities to overcome it.

They said growers did realise that Sindh had been receiving lesser than its actual share, but influential figures were also taking away other growers’ share in connivance with unscrupulous elements sitting within the irrigation department.

They said small growers were devastated due to the unfair distribution of canal water, especially in Badin district. They said people of coastal districts were not even getting water for drinking and cooking purposes.

They demanded dismantling of all direct outlets (DOs). They also called for a halt to the construction of new water channels, arguing that there was no logic behind such things when the existing channels had been lying dry for months.

Meanwhile, a complete shutdown was observed in the towns of Tarai and Khorwah on Monday against unavailability of water in Imam Wah Jageer (irrigation channel) for several months. Local farmers along with their children took to the streets and proceeded to the dry bed of the watercourse to hold a demonstration.

The growers said that they had been raising a hue and cry for long over the situation but their desperate calls had fallen on deaf ears so far.

Activists of various political parties and nationalist groups joined in the protest demonstrations held in the two towns.

The growers whose lands are fed through the canals of Khairpur Gumbo irrigation sub-divisions also resumed their protest against unavailability of water in Malkani Sharif town.

They had run a sustained campaign on the issue and had to put it off a few months back on certain assurances held out by the authorities concerned.

Separately, a delegation comprising MNA Ghulam Ali Talpur, MPAs Tanzeela Qambrani, Taj Mohammed Mallah and Mir Allah Bakhsh Talpur and former chairman of the Sindh Irrigation Drainage Authority (SIDA) Nawaz Chandio called on Irrigation Minister Mohammed Ismail Rahu at the Sindh Secretariat on Tuesday and discussed the issue with him.

Similar protest demonstrations were held in Talhar, Tando Bago, Gulab Leghari and other towns of the district.

They told the minister that the crisis had ruined the agriculture sector in the province.

Mr Rahu maintained that Sindh was currently getting around 30pc lesser water than its share from Punjab. He held the federal government responsible for the situation. He hoped that he would be able to manage 3,000 cusec from Sukkur Barrage for Badin district.

Speaking to Dawn, Mr Rahu said he did realise the grievance of Badin growers because he himself was a grower and hailed from the same district.

However, he added, water crisis had equally hit most districts of the province.

He said lawmakers from the worst-hit areas were told to help ensure a judicious distribution of available water among growers, especially those receiving it from Kotri Barrage.

He said the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) and Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) should also ensure an equitable distribution of water among all federating units.

Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2019