NAWABSHAH, July 17: The issue of theft of water from the Indus, between Chashma Barrage (in Punjab) and Guddu Barrage (in Sindh), with the help of pumping machines will be taken up in the next Indus River System Authority meeting, said Sindh Irrigation Minister Jam Saifullah Dharejo on Thursday.
Talking to journalists at the irrigation rest house, he said that he had written a letter to Federal Minister for Water and Power Pervez Ashraf regarding water shortage in Sindh and requested closure of Chashma-Jhehlum Link Canal which the minister had accepted accordingly.
Mr Dharejo said that the Sindh government had requested Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani to ensure implementation of 1991 Water Accord, though the province carried reservations over it. He said that the prime minister had assured them of implementing the accord as other provinces had already given their consent.
“I have directed irrigation officials to visit canals and ensure supply of water to tail-end growers,” he said, adding that assistance of Rangers was being sought to bring an end to water theft. He warned of action against erring officials and said that they would be dealt as per the laws.
He said that he had issued directives to irrigation officials to conduct raids on major and minor canals with the support of Rangers and take action against those involved in water theft.
Recounting the PPP government’s achievement, he said that within first three months of coming into power, it had shelved the Kalabagh dam project, would soon provide jobs to 50,000 youths of the province on merit basis and cancelled allotment of thousands of acres of Karachi land worth in billions awarded to favouite people the past regime.
He said that he had issued instructions regarding illegal tree chopping from river banks and suspended the executive engineers of Mirpurkhas and Ghotki on complaints of their involvement in water theft.
Later, the minister heard complaints of growers and suspended the irrigation SDOs of Daur and Nawabshah-I.
He visited Punhal Khan Chandio village to offer condolence on the demise of the mother of MPA Ghulam Qadir Chandio.
RBOD: The minister told journalists during his visit to Kotri Barrage that the Sindh government had admitted that the portion of Right Bank Outfall Drain (RBOD) between Sehwan and Gharo posed some risks to environment, adds our Hyderabad correspondent.
He said that Sindh government would strongly pursue the case of affected people of LBOD to get them compensation from Wapda or World Bank.
He said that the government in their meetings with Wapda and World Bank made them realise that technical flaws in the LBOD’s design had led to widespread devastations in Badin district.
He said that that he would also try to persuade them to visit the affected areas hit by LBOD disaster to get a real picture of the situation. “There are genuine fears about environmental hazards of this project and I myself will hold meeting with environmentalists to stop it becoming a repeat of LBOD,” the minister said.
About allotment of around 26,000 acres of land in coastal belt for windmills project by the outgoing government, he said: “In fact it is total fraud (and a pretext) to dispose of Sindh’s precious land whose allotment will soon be cancelled by Sindh government.”
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