LARKANA, Sept 5: Central Vice President of the Sindh Abadgar Board, SAB, Gada Hussain Mahisar, has said that initial surveys showed that heavy rains coupled with faulty ‘sim nullahs’ have caused widespread damages in Sindh. The downpour, he added, had also damaged 25 per cent of crops in the rice belt of Larkana, Qambar-Shahdadkot, Kashmore, Jacboabad and Shikarpur districts.

Talking to ‘Dawn’ here on Tuesday, he said un-reigned saline drains had devastated paddy crops which, according to him, could be spread over 500,000 acres of land in the rice belt.

For the last three years, the concerned departments had left the saline drain to silt up while funds meant for its cleansing were either misused or siphoned-off, he added.

In lower Sindh, paddy crop damages were assessed at 50 per cent where saline drains also played havoc with cotton, onion, chilly and vegetables crops massively.

He said under the prevailing conditions and wet weather, paddy crop was prone to Stem Borer, Hopper and Mille bug attack. He demanded of the government to activate the agriculture department to come forward and check widespread damages.