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Farmers reject exorbitant water rates, tax on farm produce

By Our Correspondent
June 16, 2021

LAHORE: The farmer bodies have rejected what they call exorbitant water rates and tax on farm produce, terming it an unbearable burden on them.

The Punjab Water Council (PWC) while commenting on the increase in enhancement of water rates (Abiana) said here on Tuesday that the provincial government already failed in providing water to farmers round the year and now they have made a huge increase in its rate. Instead of ensuring efficient use of canal water, the Irrigation Department has come up with an easy solution of multiplying water rate, which will be detrimental to the cause of the farming community, said Farooq Bajwa, founding convener of the PWC. He criticised the provincial government for not taking farmers into confidence over such an important decision. The Irrigation Department should have held consultation with the stakeholders about the ways to improve revenue from the services being provided by the provincial government to the farming community.

It may be noted that the Punjab jacked up Abiana from Rs 270 per Acre per year to Rs 400 for low water allowance soils and Rs 550 for high water allowance Acres. It has also increased water charges to Rs 500 for those Acres that fall in the lift irrigation territory.

In addition to the increase in Abiana, the province also introduced a new tax under the garb of drainage charges at the rate of Rs 50 per Acre. However, the rate would be doubled if tube-well is used for this purpose. The water extraction tax would hit farmers hard, who used to exercise the costly option of utilising tubewell for irrigating their crops, said the Kissan Board Pakistan (KBP).

KBP spokesman Haji Ramzan said the Provincial Irrigation Department wants to mint billions of rupees from poor farmers in the name of increasing its revenue collection. He said direct receipts on account of water rates are estimated to be Rs 7.91 billion from the upcoming financial year against the outgoing year's collection of Rs 3.58 billion, which is too much for the farmers.

He said the decision to set up the Punjab Water Services Regulatory Authority and the Punjab Water Services Resources Commission should have been taken after involving farmers in the consultation process. The KBP leader also criticised the provincial government decision to tax cotton byproducts, saying that this is actually an additional burden on farmers.