THATTA: A group of farmers having their lands in the tail-end areas of Thatta district have unearthed numerous illegal cuts, outlets, barricades and pumping machines meant to block flow of Nari Chach (upper) irrigation channel to their areas.

They approached Dawn with pictures of such barricades and identified the sections along the tributary, lamenting that influential landowners had resorted to divert the flow to their own lands and deprive them and many other farmers of their due share in water.

Requesting anonymity for obvious reasons, the aggrieved farmers claimed that the local irrigation officials and other employees were hand in glove with the influential landowners.

These unauthorised obstructions and machines were actually responsible for the unavailability of water in the tail-end areas of this district, they asserted, and urged the authorities concerned to take appropriate action against the unscrupulous officials and landowners.

The tributary falls in the Baghar irrigation sub-division, they said.

They lamented that they were facing heavy losses due to the lack of water which, they said, had rendered their lands barren and their families without water and any earning through farming.

They disclosed that the influential landowners had dared to install a 40-inch-dia pipe at one point to suck a huge quantity of water for their lands, practically leaving no water for small landowners and khatedars of the tail-end area.

At many places, flows in the tributary had been blocked or diverted with different kinds of wooden and other obstructions, they said, and showed photos of several such things to Dawn.

They claimed that the irrigation officials had turned a blind eye to the illegal practices “in lieu of hefty amounts of bribe offered to them on a regular basis”.

A large number of civil society and political activists gathered around the group of farmers, and expressed their outrage over the treatment being meted out to owners of small pieces of agricultural land and farmers. They said such practices on the part of the influential landowners tantamount to economic murder of the tail-end growers.

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2023