HYDERABAD, Feb 9: President of the Sindh Abadgar Board, Mr Abdul Majeed Nizamani, has urged the Sindh government and the irrigation department to take immediate steps to stop construction of illegal garden inside the Bandar Wall of Sukkur barrage as well as the wall.

In a statement issued here on Thursday, he warned that if the Sukkur barrage was damaged or Sukkur or Rohri towns were inundated, the Sindh government and the department which is carrying out construction would be responsible.

He reminded the government that Sukkur barrage was the biggest barrage of the country and, in case it was damaged, the economy of the country would receive a tremendous setback.

The SAB president further said that the Indus River was one of the biggest rivers of the world and so was Sukkur barrage project which cultivated eight million acres of land of the province.

Any damage to the barrage, he added, would be a national tragedy. He expressed surprise over the role of the media, civil society and the political parties which had failed to take notice of such a big issue.

He appealed to the Sindh government to take immediate steps to stop work on the garden and the wall.

He proposed a committee comprising representatives of federal and provincial and retired and in-service engineers to assess the damage being caused to Sukkur barrage due to encroachments.

He also demanded that people should be informed about the steps taken with regards to removal of encroachments from the barrage.

He called upon the growers organisations to give due importance to this matter as it was far more important than the prices of urea, machinery, diesel and other inputs.