Punjab Minister for Irrigation and Chairman PIDA Mian Yawar Zaman has said that strict action would be taken against government officials assisting in water theft. He said that the officers not taking action on water theft would be considered to be involved in the theft. He said this while presiding over a meeting regarding eradication of water theft and shortage of canal water at Irrigation Secretariat.
Commissioner Bahawalpur Captain Asad Ullah Khan (Retd), Chief Engineer Irrigation (Bahawalpur Zone) Khurshid Zaman, Additional Secretary (Operation) Malik Muhammad Saleem, Chief Monitoring Habib Ullah Bodla, Assembly Members Qazi Ghulam Farid and Khalid Mahmood Waraan attended the meeting. It reviewed in detail the shortage of water and canals’ situation of Bahawalpur Zone.
Assembly Members while told about the Bahawal Canal, Sultan Canal, Uch Minor and 4-L Distribution System of Ahmed Pur Sharqia told that the availability of water at the tail end of these water channels and needs to take practical steps. They further told that due to non-availability of underground sweet water, the farmers depend upon canal water for agricultural needs, which is less than the requirements.
The Irrigation Minister directed Additional Secretary to constitute a high level technical team to report about the canals of Ahmed Pur Sharqia and it should be submitted within three days. Mian Yawar Zaman further directed that the estimates for construction and repair of water channels be prepared at the earliest so that necessary repair work could be carried out during next closure of canals. He made it clear that no negligence will be tolerated in this regard.
