BADIN: Leaders of several farmers’ organisations have expressed deep concern over unavailability of water in the tail-end areas of Badin district despite flood in the Indus.

Talking to local reporters on Wednesday, Khalil Ahmed Bhurgari, Mir Noor Ahmed Talpur and Azizullah Dero of the Save Badin Action Committee deplored that most of the tail-end areas of the district were again facing the worst water shortage. The committee was formed a few months ago to launch a protest movement against the nagging water crisis in the district.

“The blockages erected in the bed of Phuleli Canal by the officials of Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority (Sida) and irrigation department are the prime factors behind the fiasco,” they said, adding that officials were not releasing the required water in the canal system for fear of overtopping.

They made it clear that unless those blockages were removed, water flows could never be regulated in the tail-end areas of the district. They deplored the fact that on one hand there was flood in Indus River while on the other various areas of Badin district were without water meant for rice, chief crop of the district.

“This is a cruel joke with the farmers of Badin at the time of flood in rivers,” they added and demanded removal of incompetent officials who, they said, had miserably failed to regulate the flows of water.

They said that it stood proved now that the blockages were erected with the huge cost of Rs6 billion only to irrigate the lands of influential figures in the command area of Sukkur Barrage.

They told that farmers got some respite due to bounteous rains, but again began to face the shortage of water.

They claimed that irrigation minors of Shadi, Kadhan and Qazia sub-divisions were being provided with irrigation water under the process of rotation due to which rice crop was badly affected.

They urged the lawmakers from Badin to invite Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah to visit the tail-end areas of Badin district to assess the situation himself and ensure just distribution of water.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2019