By Kamran Khamiso Khowaja
Thatta: Growers of Mirpur Sakro, Ghorabari, Keti Bunder Ghulamullah, and other areas of district Thatta staged a long march to register their protest against the lingering water shortage that has turned their agricultural lands baren. Carrying play cards and banners in their hands local growers and members of civil society raised slogans against the irrigation department and those responsible for the artificial water shortage.
The growers complained that they were not getting water for the last four months to irrigate their agricultural land owing to the fact they were unable to cultivate paddy on time.
A grower Abdul Razzak Kalmmati said that their lands had turned infertile following non-supply of water and the situation would worsen if they did get the water to irrigate their lands.
Leader of Abadgar Etihad Waheed Rind said that they were not getting irrigation as well as drinking water due to which they were facing a dry spell. He further said that canals that were the source of water supply to the tail-end areas of district Thatta and Sujawal had completely dried up.
“Underground water has dried up and we are consuming contaminated water that is bound to cause diseases, we do not know when our ordeal will end” lamented Rafiq Bambroo. Farmer organizations’ office-bearers and members of Civil Society blamed the irrigation department for creating an artificial shortage in the tail-end areas. The rally that began from Buhari town culminated outside irrigation office Mirpur Sakro where growers staged protest demonstrations. They warned to expand their protest if the water was not supplied to tail-end areas.