MULTAN, Nov 20: Mango Growers Cooperative Society and Mango Growers Association Pakistan President Syed Zahid Husain Gardezi cricticised on Tuesday the government for not handling the water issue in the country as “it is gradually becoming a menace and a nightmare for the agriculture community”.

At a meeting, he said canals in south Punjab had been without water for more than a fortnight even before their scheduled closure because of a newly-devised rotational programme for Rabi season 2012-13. He said the officials cited water shortage in the rivers for canal closures.

He said there was a need to set up a high-powered commission to devise a strategy to meet water needs of the agrarian country.

He said it was high time that new large water reservoirs were built, waterways improved and high-priced technology of drip and sprinkler irrigation be provided to growers at very affordable cost on a 90-10 per cent cost basis.

Gardezi said the reported halt on the construction of Basha dam was another blow to our agriculture.

He said farming had gradually become a loser trade for almost 96 per cent of small and medium farmers due to higher cost of inputs, lower returns and intermittent vagaries of weathers. Diminishing water availability for agriculture could become death warrants for the country growing almost 52 all season fruits apart from innumerable field crops.

He also demanded imprisonment and heavy fines for influential barons who habitually inundated their crops by directly breaching canals depriving other tail-ender farmers downstream.

He said water theft should be declared a cognizable crime as water was gradually becoming an endangered commodity.