MIRPURKHAS: Hundreds of growers staged protests in Mirpurkhas and Badin districts on Monday against acute shortage of water and its theft by influential landlords in connivance with irrigation department officers, calling upon the Chief Justice of Pakistan to take notice of the crisis.In Mirpurkhas, growers whose land lie at the tail-end of the Nara Canal marched in a rally to the office of the director of the Nara Canal where they staged a sit-in and called for an end to political interference in the irrigation system.

The protesters` leaders Mir AijazTalpur,ZahidNoon,Chodhry Sohail and others told journalists at the press club before marching to thedirector`s office that there was enough water in the irrigation system but influential landlords in collusion with of ficers were stealing it at the expense of tail-enders.

They said that tail-ends of six subdivisions of Sindhri, Nabisar, Samaro, Digri, Naokot and Kot Ghulam Mohammad of the Nara Canal were the worst hit by shortages and alleged that the rotation programme was not enforced onthe distributaries irrigating land of influential political personalities.

They said the unabated water theft was leading to destruction of their crops and depriving people of drinking water. Influential persons had got posted ofñcers of their choice in the irrigation department to ensure their farms always received water, they said.

They said that even the member of area`s water board who repre-sented farmers did nothing to improve the situation. When Ibrahim Dawoodpota and a few other officers took action to supply water till the tail-end they were immediately replaced, they said.

They demanded the Sindh chief minister, director general of Rangers, irrigation minister and chief secretary ensure fair distribution of water and take action against corrupt officials.