MIRPURKHAS: Abadgars in the tail-end areas of the Mirpurkhas division are facing an acute shortage of irdgation water following a reduction in the flow at the Nara Canal head and rampant water theft. Farmers have held protest demonstrations at several places.
Farmers said the flow in the Nara Canal had been declining day by day for the past week, while water theft had increased, causing an acute shonage in tail-end areas, including the districts of Mirpurkhas, Umerkot and Tharparkar.
They said the inefficiency of irrigation depanment officials had left tail-end farmers depHved of their share of water.
The abadgars alleged that influential landlords were illegally drawing water from the head and middle reaches of the canals with the connivance of irrigation officials. As a result, they said, tail-end farmers were being denied their share, and standing crops and the sowing of wheat were being severely affected.
They said the irrigation depanment had recently ensured the release of water into the Kherao, Doso and Daroro minors, but the water was not reaching the tail. They alleged that despite the implementation of a rotation programme, the water was not reaching the tail because of large-scale theft.
They also complained that their livestock were dying for want of water, and regretted that irrigation officers had so far failed to take strict, practical steps to stop water theft and ensure that water reached the tail-end areas.
The farmers demanded that the Mirpurkhas commissioner, the chief engineer and the executive engineers take prompt notice, stop water theft in the Kherao minor immediately and ensure that water reached the tail end under the rotation programme.