LAHORE, Feb 26: Provincial irrigation minister Aamir Sultan Cheema has said that 2,432 committees would be formed to ensure supply of water to tail-enders.
Speaking on the floor of the Punjab Assembly on Wednesday, the minister said canal and watercourse committees would also be formed to check water theft and decide and implement rotational supply (Warabandi).
Disclosing future projects of his department, he said he would soon present a plan for setting up 31 small power houses on canals. He said committees comprising local people would be set up to run those power houses and produce cheap electricity for agriculture purposes.
He said over 3,800 villages in Punjab had not yet been electrified and the power wing of his department would be revamped to provide electricity to those villages.
Mr Cheema said he was also working on a proposal to introduce service charges instead of flat water rates so that farmers were not overcharged.
The minister said he had directed the XENs and SDOs concerned to remain present in their respective offices on Mondays and Thursdays so that the visiting farmers did not face difficulties in getting solved their problems.
He requested the legislators to also keep an eye on the working of irrigation officials.
PML-Q MPA Tahir Husain Khan emphasized the need for ensuring rotational supply and introducing new farming techniques to save water.
He demanded coordination with Wapda for introducing special tariff for farm tubewells and improving the centuries old communication system of the irrigation department.
Najaf Abbas Khan, another PML-Q legislator, demanded special measures to check water theft so that provision of water to tail-enders could be ensured.
He suggested that the department should introduce a force for patrolling 23,000km of canals and watercourses to check water theft.
He said the government was recovering water rate despite the fact that water was not being supplied to the area fed by Rangpur Canal in Jhang district.
He demanded that Scarp tubewells lying inoperative in the area be repaired and made functional.
Saadia Humayun suggested that the house should unanimously urge the federal government not to increase diesel prices in view of the problems of poor farmers who were using tubewells to irrigate their fields. Javed Gujjar said most of the regulatory heads on various canals had completed their life, and urged the government to allocate funds for repair of the same.
He also drew the attention of the authorities to the Abbasia Link canal project, which had been lying incomplete since 1980.
Raes Iqbal said water theft could not be stopped as water quota had not been increased in proportion to the increase in cultivable land.