PTI Leader Holds Sindh Government Responsible For Water Shortage

HYDERABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Jun, 2021 ) :The Opposition Leader in Sindh Assembly and Central Vice President of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Haleem Adil Sheikh on Sunday held Sindh government responsible for persistent water shortage in the irrigation system.

"The Pakistan Peoples Party which rules in Sindh is responsible for the unjust distribution of enough available water," he said while talking to media persons and party workers during a visit to different areas of Kohistan including Thano Bola Khan town of Jamshoro district.

Commenting on the plight of the dwellers of Kohistan region in Khirthar mountain range, Shaikh lamented that both Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah and the influential Member Provincial Assembly, Malik Asad Sikandar from Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), have failed to develop one of the most backward areas of the province.

"Both these PPP leaders have pocketed the funds which were otherwise meant for carrying out various development schemes in the hilly areas of Jamshoro and Dadu districts," he alleged.

He asked people to raise their voice against the injustice being meted out to them by the PPP rulers for many decades.

He noted that there was no health facility for the people of Kohistan who were already facing hardships due to abject poverty.

Talking about the water crisis in various districts of Sindh, Sheikh said Prime Minister Imran Khan took notice of the water shortage and the subsequent hue and cry by the PPP leaders.

He had directed the officials of Indus River System Authority (IRSA) and Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) to convene a meeting on May 27 of the irrigation officials of Punjab and Sindh to sort out the mechanism to overcome the water crisis.

The PTI leader lamented that despite all the hue and cry, the Sindh government did not attend the said meeting.

Shaikh recalled that the PM had also directed the concerned officials of IRSA and WAPDA to post the neutral inspectors to check the water flows in all the nine barrages in Punjab and Sindh provinces to ensure the equitable water distribution.

"But PPP the rulers in Sindh turned a blind eye and did not even bother to attend that meeting as well," he said.

He blamed Sindh government and Sindh Irrigation Minister Suhail Anwar Siyal for depriving the farmers and small growers of Thatta, Sujawal, Umerkot, Badin, Nawabshah, Sanghar, Tharparkar, Mirpurkhas, Tando Mohammad Khan and other districts of their due share of water.

"The officials of both the Sindh Irrigation Department and SIDA have been directed by the PPP leaders to divert the flows of water to only irrigate the lands of the influential figures associated with PPP and the cronies of Asif Ali Zardari," he alleged.

He asked Siyal and others to ensure the judicious and fair water distribution at the time when there was enough water at Guddu barrage and other barrages of the province.

Shaikh warned the irrigation minister to mend his ways and stop doing the dirty politics on water issues by creating the hatred among the people of the federating units for their vested interests.

"We have all the documents and letters of IRSA functionaries with regard to the equitable water distribution but the PPP leadership only wants to do the dirty politics on the natural water shortage in order to dupe the people of Sindh," he said.

The opposition leader contended that the PPP government after failing to maintain the law and order in the province had taken up the issue of water shortage to divert attention of the people from the core issues.

He claimed that presently only poor farmers were not being provided with water for both crop cultivation and even for drinking in the tail-end areas of the coastal belt and other parts of Sindh.

The PTI leader apprised that they had to cancel a planned protest outside Hyderabad Press Club on Sunday against drug peddling in the province because a PPP rally was scheduled at the same venue simultaneously.

"The PPP rulers don't want the youth to get rid of the social evils and ills which have plagued the province," he remarked assuring that the PTI would continue to raise its voice against the injustice and the prevalent social evils.

Shaikh urged youth of Sindh to play their constructive role to create awareness among people of the province.

Members National Assembly from PTI including Jay Parkash Ukrani, Pir Zaman Shah, Pir Ghulam Murtaza Shah and others besides workers were accompanied during the visit.