Growers demand probe into collapse of Sukkur barrage gates

HYDERABAD: The Sindh Aabadgar Ittehad has demanded that NED and Mehran universities’ hydraulic engineers should investigate these loopholes and the team should be supervised by a retired justice. This demand was made in a meeting of the Sindh Aabadgar Ittehad held here. It was presided over by Nawab Zubair Talpur.

It was discussed in the meeting that the repair work on the Sukkur Barrage gates had been going on for the last six years and the Irrigation Department, which has a budget of billions of rupees, had spent millions of rupees. Despite this, two doors were swept away by the water, which shows the incompetence of this department, it was told.

The growers’ body demanded that the NED and Mehran universities’ hydraulic engineers should investigate these loopholes and the team should be supervised by a retired justice.

Furthermore, growers said in the meeting that IPPs are actually robbing people of their money, not so much electricity is being generated as money is being taken from people in the form of bills.

A calculation was made in the meeting that in the fiscal year 2023 to 2024, electricity worth 1,300 billion rupees was used, but 3,446 billion rupees were collected from the people, that is, 2,146 billion rupees more was collected from the people, of electricity which was never generated. It was demanded that the government stop fraud with people.

President Sindh Abadgar Ittehad, Nawab Zubair Talpur, taking into account the forecast of monsoon rains in Sindh in the current month, said that the meteorological department has predicted heavy rains in the coming days for which the Sindh government has not made any preparations.

He said that the kind of rains that are being predicted will wash away standing crops, livestock, infrastructure, and houses. The Sindh Abadgar Ittehad announced a plantation drive and instructed the members to plant more trees in their districts to deal with climate change in the coming times.

The monthly meeting was attended by Mir Zafarullah Khan Talpar, Muhammad Anwar, Muhammad Javed Riyaar, Khan Muhammad Kunboh, Abdul Rahim Dar, Mir Subedar Talpar, Muhammad Sharif Nizamani, Mohib Ali Marri and others.