KHAIRPUR, Aug 11: Farmers affected by a recent breach in the Abul Wah, staged a sit-in here on Tuesday demanding payment of compensation for the loss of crops.

Raising slogans against the area irrigation officials, they complained that water was still standing on their land and in their houses in the areas of Pakki and Katchi Khohi.

They told newsmen that due to the breach, they had sustained heavy loss of crops and their houses had been damaged but compensation had not been paid to them. On the other hand, tail-end farmers of four canals of Faiz Gunj taluka - Faiz Gunj, Veeho, Pandhero and Ali Nawaz Wahs - staged a sit-in in Pakka Chang on Tuesday.

They alleged that about 20 watercourses, fed by the canals, particularly their tail-ends, did not get water. The irrigation authorities were ensuring uninterrupted water supply to the land of influential landlords while depriving small-scale farmers of their water share, they said.

ARREST: Amanullah Abbasi, assistant manager, Zarai Taraqqiati Bank, Khairpur branch, was arrested on Monday night for attacking an employee of Shah Abdul Latif University, Javed Memon.

However, he was not produced in the court on Tuesday. Some staff members of the bank told journalists that they had gone to the police station to visit Mr Abbasi but had been denied the visit.

CLASH: A man, Mohammad Bukhsh Jodh, was injured in a clash between two groups of villagers in the kutcha area near here on Monday night.

ROBBERY: Some 12 armed men robbed passengers of a Lahore- bound coach in the jurisdiction of the Babarloi police station on Monday night. The bus was coming from Karachi.