Rotation cycle for irrigation water continues

SAB accuses authorities of creating artificial shortage despite high water in river

HYDERABAD:

Although Indus River is flowing at over 229,000 cusecs at Kotri barrage and the water level remained still higher at Guddu and Sukkur barrages, shortage of irrigation water persists in many parts of Sindh, claims the Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB).

A meeting of the board on Sunday with vice president Mahmood Nawaz Shah in the chair, blamed the irrigation officials for creating artificial shortage in the command areas of many canal systems in the province.

According to the farmers, a seven to 15 days water rotation is still being enforced in several districts despite the fact that there is no water scarcity in the river.

They pointed out that only in a part of Khairpur district’s east, with a command area of 65,000 acres, a majority of the land cannot be brought under cultivation because of water unavailability.

The SAB called for putting an end to the rotation cycle immediately.

The SAB condemned the alleged exploitation of the cotton farmers by the middlemen, saying the growers are being paid a maximum of Rs7,700 per 40kg instead of the government fixed rate of Rs8,500 per 40kg.

The buyers are also deducting two kilograms from the 40kg weight on different pretexts, which further reduces the farmers’ income.

The board’s office bearers appreciated the efforts of cotton growers for producing a bumper crop with an increase of around 60 per cent from the previous year, adding that the country’s dependence on cotton imports and expenditure of foreign exchange reserves has reduced as a result.

They demanded that the government should take action against the middlemen who, they also accused, for hoarding agroinputs to artificially escalate shortage and increase prices.

According to the SAB’s office bearers, the dealers are charging Rs1,800 above the fixed price of a bag of DAP fertiliser while a bag of urea is being sold at Rs3,700 against the official rate of Rs3,100.

Dr Bashir Nizamani, Syed Nadeem Shah, Aslam Mari, Imran Bozdar, Khalid Memon, Taha Memon, Qazi Adeel, Ahsan Arbab and other office bearers and members of the board were present in the meeting.