SUKKUR: Towns’ residents and growers staged protests in parts of Sindh on Saturday in protest against acute shortage of water for drinking as well as for irrigating farmland.

In Jacobabad, activists of Sindh Peoples Hari Committee took out a rally and held a sit-in on Civil Hospital Road in scorching heat and blamed federal government for the nagging water shortage in Sindh.

The committee’s divisional president Deedar Jakhrani and others said while speaking to protesters that Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government had stopped Sindh’s water which would lead to complete destruction of agriculture. No cultivation could be made on several million acres of land in the province amid acute shortage of water, they said.

They warned of widening their protest if the federal government failed to release Sindh’s share of water to the province.

Earlier on Friday, a rally was taken out in Jacobabad in response to a call given by All Parties Committee having representation of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid, National Party, Sindh Mallah Forum, Aam Insan Tehreek and several civil society organisations.

The rally marched to local press club where the participants held a sit-in in protest against the administration’s failure to make the water supply scheme functional and supply clean drinking water to the town’s residents.

The committee president Shaban Abro and others said that they had been protesting continuously against depriving Jacobabad of purified drinking water but their agitation had so far failed to jolt the district administration into action.

They said the town’s residents were compelled to buy unclean water from vendors who supplied the commodity through tanks mounted on donkey-carts.

The unsafe water was causing different abdominal diseases and hepatitis.

They said that the water supply scheme which had been built at a cost of Rs1.5 billion during Musharraf government was left unattended and allowed to fall into disuse. It was again rehabilitated with the help of USAID at a cost of millions of rupees many months ago, still it had not been made functional and the residents were still deprived of water, they said.

They accused officials linked with the water supply scheme project of committing huge corruption and demanded Chief Justice of Sindh High Court take action against the corrupt and order provision of clean drinking water to residents.

Growers hold rallies against water shortage

DADU: A large number of small growers took out a rally on Saturday in protest against closure of water to Khudabad, Phakka, Jagir, Pipri areas by irrigation officials and diversion of their share to constituency of Sindh chief minister.

The protesters marched on roads and staged demonstrations outside offices of engineer and SDO of irrigation in Dadu. The officials were selling their share of water in Dadu Canal to the CM’s constituency, they alleged.

They demanded irrigation officials immediately release their share of water, else they would continue their protest.

In Johi town, growers took out a rally and staged a demonstration against unfair distribution of water.

The protesters’ leaders said that irrigation officials were selling share of tail-end growers to big and influential landlords whose lands were at the head of Johi Canal. Unfair distribution had created worst water crisis in the tail-end areas, they complained.

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2021