MULTAN, April 19: The farmers of Dera Ghazi Khan, Rajanpur and Muzaffargarh districts protested on Thursday against charging of water tax for the period when the Dera Ghazi Khan and Muzaffargarh canals were closed.

The command area of these canals is about 2.5 million acres while the water discharge capacity of Dera and Muzaffargarh canals is 10,000 cusecs and TP Ling Canal is 12,000 cusecs.

These canals are fed from Taunsa Barrage and water supply remains suspended for at least four months every year from 2005 following the ongoing World Bank funded Taunsa Barrage modernisation and rehabilitation project.

There is no other source for the poor farmers to irrigate their fields during this period. The normal depth of underground water is more than 350 feet in Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur districts which not only costs too much to install a tubewell but more power is consumed when these are run.

Kissan Board general secretary Rashid Khan Langah told this correspondent on Thursday that wheat crop over a vast area was damaged badly due to acute shortage of water and farmers had to face huge losses.

Now they have been asked to pay water cess also for the period when the canal was closed which was unjustified. Instead, farmers should be provided relief so that they could continue cultivation of crops, which was not only beneficial for them but also for the country, he added.

Provincial irrigation secretary Arif Habib said the closure of canals was not due to the Taunsa Barrage rehabilitation project. These canals functioned half-yearly and water discharged in them for only Kharif.

He said water was discharged in these canals when it was in abundance during the Rabi season but the government charged for Kharif only. The irrigation department was charging for last year’s Kharif season, he added.