Farmers in Takkar complain of under-supply of irrigation water

TAKHTBHAI: The low discharge of irrigation water at Takkar area near here has resulted in drying up of the fertile lands and caused unrest among the farmers, who have demanded the provincial government to take immediate steps to ensure enough water supply to their lands.
The farmers are unhappy with the indifferent attitude of the Irrigation Department officials. They expressed concern over the ineffectiveness of the Chief Minister’s Complaint Cell, which, they said, was yet to resolve the problem. Fida Mohammad, an elder of the area along with a group of farmers, told The News that they had submitted an application with the Chief Minister’s Complaint Cell in December 2014, but no action was taken even after six months.
They said that their lands were irrigated by the Badiband Canal, choke-point No. 61917/R. They said that the legal discharge at the point was 5.49 cusecs, which during the current government reduced to 2.4 cusecs, resulting in acute shortfall of water to their 1600 acre lands. The reason behind the decrease in water discharge was water-theft and dishonesty of the Irrigation Department officials, they alleged.
They said that they were regularly paying water bills, but enough water was not supplied to them due to which they could not sow sugarcane crop last year and their wheat crop was badly affected.
They said that currently they were getting one hour water per four acre land while they need to get an hour water supply per one acre. They said that the water shortage has seriously affected the 2000 population of poor farmers.