Water theft: Cases registered against 1,800 farmers in Faisalabad

Official says complaints compiled over one-and-a-half month.

FAISALABAD:

Water theft cases were registered against 1,800 farmers in several police stations of the city on Tuesday.

With 826 suspects identified in Chaks 31-JB and 39-GB, Sandal Bar police registered the most number of cases.

The FIR identified 194 suspects in Chak 31-JB and 630 in Chak 39-GB.

These were registered on the complaint of Rakh Branch Sub-Divisional Officer Afsar Ali. He said the names were compiled by Irrigation Department officials over a period of one-and-a-half month.

He said most of the suspects were accused of breaching the canals to irrigate their fields. The complaint also identified farmers who illegally pumped water from canals using pipes.

Tarkhani police registered cases against 430 farmers of Chaks2-8-RB, 214-RB, 215-RB, 218-RB, 219-RB, 220-RB, 221-RB and 227-RB.

In Lundianwala, 152 farmers were accused of water theft. Of these, 33 belonged to Chak 630-GB and 31 to Chak 98-RB and the rest to Chak 63-RB.

Saddar police registered cases against 269 farmers of Chaks 75-RB, 228-RB and 238-RB; Bahlak police against 28 farmers of Chak 604-GB and Saddar Sammundri police against 33 farmers of Chaks 175-GB and 439-RB.

Police said raiding teams had been formed to arrest the suspects identified in these complaints.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 25^th, 2012.