RECORDER REPORT

LAHORE: Kisan Board Pakistan (KBP) Secretary-General Malik Muhammad Ramzan Rohari urges the government to ensure provision of water at the tails of the canals besides enacting strict legislation against water pilferage.

Rohari also demanded of the government to award exemplary punishment to black sheep in canals department and those influential who are involved in water stealing. KBP Secretary-General was talking to a group of peasants from Rajanpur who called on him at the head office of the Board here on Friday. The delegation said Dajal Canal has been closed down due to which people hailing from thousands of villages in and around Rajanpur districts where they do not have access even to drinking water.

Ramzan Rohari stated that the Board staged ‘Camel March’ on the same issue last year and water was released in the canal after this protest. However, he regretted that the present government has once again closed the canal. This canal water is used by the locals for drinking and feeding their animals. He said that water should be released in canals in sufficient quantity which could be used by the people of these areas where clean drinking water is not available. He also warned the government to stop India from illegally constructing water reservoirs and dams on rivers as it may lead to depriving millions of people of water both for drinking and irrigation in Pakistan.

KBP Secretary-General said if water is not released in ‘Dajal Canal’ at the earliest, then the Board would stage a demonstration in front of the Punjab Assembly.