HYDERABAD, June 6: The Sindh Abadgar Board has demanded that Wapda should be disbanded and provincial authorities be constituted to deal with water and power affairs of the country.

The working committee of the board, which met here on Saturday under the chairmanship of Abdul Latif Nizamani, discussed latest water situation and said that the water shortage had attained alarming proportions.

The meeting demanded that Sindh should be given its due share of water as per the water accord. The meeting observed that 50 per cent of tube wells and water pumps had been rendered dry and 80 per cent of water supply schemes had become ineffective in the Kotri barrage areas due to unprecedented water shortages.

The meeting noted that water was not available even for human consumption what to talk of livestock and agriculture. The meeting said that in such a situation the breaches in canals have proved the proverbial last straw and spoke volumes for the inefficiency and mismanagement of water supply by the Sindh irrigation department.

The board demanded that agricultural run-offs flushed out from upper Sindh through the main Nara valley drain and dumped into the Manchhar lake should be stopped forthwith.

The meeting regretted that many precious lives were lost due to the release of Manchhar lake's poisonous water into the Indus. It demanded that a judicial inquiry should be held to fix the responsibility and adequate compensation should be paid to the families of victims.