Even after a decade, a command area of 25,000 acres of land — preferably for landless women peasants — hasn’t been developed to connect with the Darawat Dam for irrigation water supplies.

Lately, issues have been raised by communities living in Thatta regarding the recently completed land survey by the district administration of the area. There are reports of duplication of land ownership claims. Landholders who have been cultivating their farms for a long time now fear that their land might be allotted to people or women where the dam’s command area is to be actually developed.

The main civil structure of the dam is built in the Kohistan area of the Jamshoro district, around 70km west of Hyderabad. Hilly terrain in these districts of Thatta and Jamshoro is dependent on rain. Communities cultivate their lands through water from hill torrents and streams. These natural waterways emanate from different locations or mountain ranges.

While Darawat Dam was completed a decade back, and The Sindh Irrigation Department has controlled the dam’s operation and maintenance administratively for four years now, it is not clear which department is going to develop the command area.

“As we understand, the Sindh agriculture department is supposed to develop the [command] area, but work has not yet started in the department. The high-efficiency irrigation system was to be provided under a World Bank-funded programme,” said an irrigation officer.

Thatta landowners fear potential seizure of their land to develop a command area for Darawat Dam 10 years after its completion

He was alluding to the Sindh Irrigated Agricultural Productivity Enhancement Project (SIAPEP). The World Bank-funded SIAPEP worth Rs18bn was completed a couple of years back. The project had meant to include components sought to promote high-efficiency systems, like drip and sprinkler, to upgrade around 35,000 acres of land to this system on a 40-60 per cent cost-sharing basis between the government and farmers in Sindh.

Sindh agriculture secretary Rafik Buriro, meanwhile, is unaware of any details relating to the development of the dam’s command area. However, the survey process for the identification of 25,000 acres has been completed, and blocks have been created according to the divisional commissioner Hyderabad, Bilal Memon. Mr Memon explains that the civil administration is awaiting the announcement of the land allotment policy from the government/revenue department, after which land allotment would begin.

Landowners like Gul Hameed Shoro and Wakil Ahmed claim that they have owned lands in the area for generations, questioning the very survey which, according to them, declared their land — already entered in the record of rights — as government property for allotment to women in the proposed command area.

Mr Shoro insists that he owns around 150 acres of land in Jangri village of Thatta, and likewise, Wakil Ahmed claims he also owns 100 acres of land in the same village, which is now declared as state land by the revenue department.

According to them, around 5,000-6,000 acres fall in or around Jangri village, where identical complaints about ownership claims have surfaced. Mr Ahmed said his family had even claimed payment under the Land Acquisition Act 1894 when the erstwhile Karachi-Hyderabad super highway (now M9 motorway) was built.

Mr Memon was of the view that the survey has so far only identified the 25,000 acres of land, and once the policy is announced, the papers and claims of ownership would be verified. “Mother entries of the land are to be checked first. If someone has valid mother entries, his/her land will be considered legal,” he said, adding that previous leases were cancelled.

After building the dam, Wapda authorities allowed the installation of some pipes so that communities could lift water from their land. But those pipes have been removed now by Sindh irrigation authorities to avoid any threat to the dam’s structure.

Darawat Dam has attained maximum water storage level, but these flows cannot be used for agricultural purposes due to non-existent command areas. The dam was conceived in 2008 by the PPP government. At the time, the federal government decided to allot 25,000 acres of land to women peasants.

Wapda had completed the dam’s construction at a cost of Rs11.67bn in 2014. It was inaugurated by the incumbent president in 2013. The irrigation department’s figures show a population of 30,930 people would benefit from the dam, besides 45,249 livestock. It has a 46-km-long irrigation network with two canals of 12km and 14.6km. Flows from Nai Baran, a natural waterway in the area, are the main source of water that feeds the dam.

According to executive engineer Asif Bhayo, its storage level could touch 114.30 meters, but the water keeps spilling, and this monsoon season, it hit a level of 105.83 metres on Sept 1, which is lower than expected. “Water from the dam can be supplied when storage touches the 106-meter mark provided that the command area is developed. Such storage can’t be used for surface irrigation, unlike formal irrigation channels,” he says.

The communities living upstream from the dam (dam’s lake/reservoir that stretches over 10,500 acres) falling in the Jamshoro district face issues of another kind — inundation. Water from hill torrents and rainfall enter their homes in several villages. Land compensation issues also remain unaddressed.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, September 9th, 2024