Water theft

In July 2010, I took a tour of Punjab and Sindh with the purpose of uncovering canal water theft due to which small farmers are being crippled into poverty. From Gujranwala to Badin, the conclusion was the same. Wherever small farmers were ‘tailenders’ (based near the bottom of canals) they are subjected to discrimination because water is stolen at the higher end of the canal, before it can reach them.

This phenomenon is decades old. There was never a real campaign against it since most governments were involved in it themselves. When I brought this issue up, eyebrows were raised. The rights of tailenders are internationally recognised, but not so in Pakistan.

As I travelled through these two provinces, I saw that farmers were being subjected to poverty despite having cultivatable land. And even though they caught water thieves red-handed, there was nothing they could do because these thieves had connections with people in irrigation and political power corridors.

In Punjab, farmers showed me how, due to the non-lining of canals, water was diverted into other fields. In Okara Dipalpur, we caught thieves in the middle of the night, fixing their tools into water courses. When confronted, they took names of influential people sitting in the cabinet. In Sindh, the trend was more blatant as waderas have installed illegal pipes.

After the trip, I set up a meeting of the Climate Change Sub-Committee of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Environment and discussed the issue. Punjab officials informed the committee that 10,485 cases of theft were reported in 2010 but not as many FIRs were registered and thus theft continued unabated. Unfortunately, no irrigation official was charged as an accomplice to the crime.

Small farmers are becoming poorer whilst irrigation officials become richer. In Sindh, despite the 1977 ban of direct outlets from canals, which are the main cause of such theft, 42,000 outlets exist. I had evidence of theft on tape, which I shared with the committee. Irrigation departments were instructed to investigate theft. Needless to say that to date no such action has taken place.

Soon after this campaign, the flood hit the country and this issue went down on my list of priorities. But now it is back on top.

These farmers are not helpless, because they are large in numbers. They need to unite against thieves. It is a long struggle but one that is critical for saving our small farmers whose productivity is being held hostage by rich bandits.

If we were to attack corruption with a vengeance, we wouldn’t need any foreign aid. It’s all in our hands. We need to get the rich to pay their taxes and not steal from the poor. Then, perhaps, we can breathe sovereign air.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 3^rd, 2010.