Power play: Govt replaces FAO recommended MD but SHC brings him back

Only the board has the authority to appoint or remove the MD.

HYDERABAD:

Rumours of a conspiracy surround the removal of Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority’s (Sida) MD Muhammad Ehsan Laghari.

Sindh government’s services, general administration and coordination department has appointed Jam Mithan Khan, who heads the Sindh Irrigation Department’s small dams project, as Sida’s new MD.

In many ways, this is a clear violation of the Sindh Water Management Ordinance of 2002 and the government’s agreement with the World Bank.

Until recently, Sida was busy with rehabilitating the infrastructure, but now it seems to be in the middle of a power struggle. Separated from the Sindh irrigation and power department in 1997 to encourage participatory irrigation, Sida, was supposed to be run autonomously under a board of 14 members.

The board includes five government officials, the MD, three academics, three elected representative from the farmers organisations, a prominent agriculturist nominated by the government and a chairman ie the provincial irrigation minister.

According to Ylli Dedja, team leader UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisations’s (FAO) Project Management Consultants, only the boards has the authority to appoint or remove the MD.

He said that the FAO was supervising a $175 million water sector improvement project which Sida was helping out with. He added that this five-year project was a part of the $150.2 million loan given by the World Bank and $24.8 million was to be shared by the Sindh government.

Dedja told The Express Tribune that the FAO was responsible for the terms of reference, short-listing the candidate, interviews and recommendations for the appointment of the MD after approval from the board. He said that Laghari was appointed through this process but the notification of Khan’s appointment was issued by the chief secretary of Sindh. He added that if the board or government wanted to bring in a new MD they should have advertised for the position.

This was meant to be done in order to curtail the government’s involvement in the irrigation sector.

Khan is a BPS-19 superintendent engineer while Laghari resigned from his government job when he was appointed to lead the water improvement project in 2009. He became Sida’s MD in September 2010.

Laghari told The Express Tribune that he was asked to report to the Sindh government was no longer a government employee as he resigned a couple of years ago. He avoided commenting on his removal as Sida’s MD.

Sindh Irrigation Secretary Khalid Hyder Memon said that the move was justified as the chief minister had the authority to do so. “The World Bank has not given the provincial government a grant but a loan,” he said. “Therefore, the government has to ensure its participation.”

While talking to The Express Tribune, Memon said government officers should be transferred to Sida because the senior officers are aware of irrigation processes.

Mind games

Many Sida officials feel that the MD’s removal and immediate appoint was a conspiracy to stop the progress of participatory irrigation which was meant to get rid of bureaucratic involvement and corruption in the irrigation sector.

“This system, which is being advanced through Sida, is engaging the stakeholders (farmers) in the processes like distribution of water, maintenance of irrigation system,” said an official. “They are also consulted in more complex processes like environmental and social impacts of the projects.”

He added that in an attempt to reclaim the irrigation system the bureaucracy was trying to remove the director of the Left Bank Canal Area Water board, Habib Ursani. The board is based is Badin and controls three off-taking canals of the Kotri Barrage. It also has cultivable land of 620,000 hectares.

He was removed earlier this month but has challenged the act in the Sindh High Court.

Sources in Sida claimed that there was a strong possibility that some other officials appointed through the FAO process would be removed.

Laghari goes to court

The Sindh High Court’s division bench issued a stay order which stated that Laghari would remain as Sida’s MD till February 16. Ghumro said that the board had the authority to remove or appoint an MD.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 26^th, 2012.