‘Drive against canal water theft continues’

LAHORE:The Punjab Irrigation Department continues campaign against canal water theft. During the last week, according to an official of the department, actions were taken against canal water theft during many raids. He added that it was also a crime to break the outlet of a channel in order to increase the water flow and as it was tantamount to stealing water from other farmers. Sharing details of campaigns, he said, due to repeated outlet tampering, outlet no 33410/L and outlet no 32520/L of Rukun Disty were sealed. Fines were also imposed on culprits. Rahim Yar Khan Canal Division fined water thieves under Section 70 of the Canal and Drainage Act, he said and added curtailing water theft helped in providing entitled farmers their share of water. “Night raids were conducted at different channels of Lodhran Canal Division and pipes installed illegally were removed. Field staff removed pipes from various RDs of Gullan Distributary in RYK Canal Division. Raids were conducted on Taranda Disty, Talla Disty, Kandair Disty and Gulan Disty by Rahim Yar Khan Canal Division team. Six pipes were seized, one culprit was caught red handed and handed over to police,” he said.