Agri-land erosion: Nowhere to plant the seeds

With the land beneath their feet literally swept away, disgruntled people of Southern Punjab continue to suffer.

KAROR:

When there is no land to cultivate, the farmers start migrating. The result is thousands forced into displacement. In the underdeveloped south-west districts of Punjab, heavy floods have eroded 20,000 acres of land since 2010. Rapid erosion of land by the River Indus has forced some 5,000 families to migrate to neighbouring cities, namely Chobara, Bhakar, Taunsa and Dera Ghazi Khan.

In a visit from Bhakar to Muzaffargarh, The Express Tribune witnessed that some seven creeks, directly linked to river Indus, have eroded thousands of acres of land belonging to poor farmers.

“Four consecutive floods had already left us miserable. On top of it, erosion hit the lands of poor farmers of Moochi Wala, Baseera and Sahuwala to make things worse,” said Sohail Khan of Kasba Balochan, a village situated on the bank of the River Indus. It is a 220 kilometers long strip of Indus, from Dera Ismail Khan to Kot Addu, where poor farmers have been becoming victims of large scale soil erosion for decades, he added.

Economic loss

Hafiz Naeem, superintendent engineer, Mianwali, who also supervises the whole region, said that the agricultural land along the river belt is the economic backbone of three districts. “The Government loses revenue of almost Rs2 billion annually due to the devastating floods and land erosion,” said Naeem. He suggested that the government should lay stones on banks of all natural creeks to stop continuous erosion in the surrounding areas of these villages.

“Why isn’t the government taking steps to stop dislodging of lands by River Indus, which has badly affected some 4,000 acres of land  in Shado Khan, Kotla Haji Shah and Jakhar union councils alone?” wondered local landlord, Sardar Afzal Khan, raising an important question. “Heavy water flowing from Chashma and Kalabagh is bringing more destruction and displacements in these areas.”

Flooding has also affected businesses of four sugar mills, namely, Chashma Sugar Industry, Fatima Sugar Industry, Layyah Sugar Mill, and Rammak Sugar Mill, according to Ghulam Haider Thind, former district nazim of Layyah. The Express Tribune tried to take input of owners of sugar mill industries located in these districts but they refused to comment.

The flood-induced displacement has also disturbed the education of about 150,000 students, where 485 schools were affected in last year’s floods, Thind added.

But unfortunately the elected representative of the area has not taken any solid steps yet to heal the wounds of the poor farmers of south Punjab. Moreover,
70,000 people are still waiting for the disaster compensation amount that had been promised to them by the government in Layyah.

Vested interests

Thind, who has also served as MNA, claimed that he spared government funds to tame the river in early 2000, but unfortunately political differences compelled him to surrender before the industrialists. Malik Ahmed Ali Aulakh, former senior minister in Punjab Assembly, also reported Thind as saying, “Industrialists have their own interests which never let farmers get their due rights.” The Punjab government spared millions of rupees to tame the river flowing around the agri-built, but unfortunately 2010 floods did not let the government do so.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, by visiting these villages, can expedite channelising the gushing waters of natural creeks which have forced thousands of people to migrate, said Niaz Khan, a former candidate for member Provincial Assembly in Sinawan.

Nazar Khan, a local philanthropist, wants the government to allocate more funds for south Punjab so that people can get rid of this sense of deprivation. “If they can not give us a separate province, they should at least treat everybody equally,” said Khan who voluntarily taught Islamic studies at Government Primary School in Malik Aabad.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 31^st, 2013.