DERA ISMAIL KHAN: District president of the Agriculture Chamber Haji Abdul Rashid Dhap expressing dismay over slow-paced repair and maintenance work on the Chashma Right Bank Canal (CRBC), called upon the authorities concerned to ensure speedy completion of work on the canal which was affected by floods last year.
“Currently the repair work on CRBC is very slow despite the fact it could have been completed in a few weeks,” he expressed these views while chairing a meeting of farmers here on Thursday.
He said it had been 15 months, the repair work was still going on the canal at a snail’s pace and its completion seemed to be still a distant dream.
But, he said authorities concerned were not paying due attention towards resolving the problems of the farmers despite the fact that 80 percent of the sugarcane crop in the area had been destroyed and a 70 percent reduction in wheat production was reported last year.
But officials concerned had fallen into a deep slumber, turning deaf ears to repeated entreaties of the farmers who were facing hardships due to the nonavailability of irrigation water.
Haji Abdul Rasheed Dhap said that Dera Ismail Khan was the only agricultural district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that meets the needs of the entire province with its agricultural commodities.
The meeting was attended by Haji Salim Awan, Malik Iqbal Khar, Malik Sanaullah Isra, Umair Afzal Sadozai, Dr. Waheed, Malik Bashir, Ramzan and several other farmers.
The meeting also demanded relief for farmers by declaring the area a disaster zone.
They requested the government to set the official sugarcane price at Rs 500 per forty kilograms, as farmers were suffering due to the flood damage.
They said If the government did not pay attention to this, the sugarcane crop next year would be further reduced, affecting the national economy.
They urged the speedy completion of canal construction work to protect the area from further deterioration and to make it lush and green once again.