The growers along the Kunri and Nabisar minor canals in Umerkot district took out a rally and set up a protest camp in front of the Kunri Press Club on Wednesday against acute water shortage in the area.
The protesters commenced their rally from the Allahwala Chowk and staged a sit in at the press club. Speaking on the occasion, their leaders stated that water has not been released in the tail-end of Nabisar and Kunri channels for a month and an acute shortage of drinking and irrigation water has surfaced. The situation has made lands barren and standing crops have dried, causing huge financial losses.
Fourteen water courses of Nabisar minor have dried and there has been no drinking water in Nabisar Thar town for one month now and the residents are forced to buy water.
The protesters warned that the demonstration camp will not be removed until irrigation water is released in both the canals.
It is pertinent to mention that on Tuesday six growers were injured by Rangers personnel, who resorted to baton charging during a protest against water shortage in Jhuddo.
The farmers were injured when they were thrashed by Rangers near Ahmed Khan Khoso village, while they were on their way to Jhuddo Town for attending a sit in staged by hundreds of growers near Chili Market in Jhuddo against acute shortage of water.
The injured men were identified as Zahid Khoso, Imran, Abdul Hameed, Khalid Hussain, Keval Kolhi and Gulab Manganhar. They were taken to a rural health centre in Jhuddo where Dr Qadeer Rajput provided them first aid. Except Kolhi all injured were admitted to the hospital. A complete shutter down strike was observed in Jhuddo town to protest against the acute shortage of water persisting in the Buggi minor fed by Jamrao canal. All the markets and shopping centres remained close in the protest.
