HYDERABAD:The Provincial Irrigation Minister Eshwar Lal has directed the concerned irrigation officials to retrieve the vehicles which are still under use of the former Irrigation Minister and ex irrigation officials so that the issue of shortage of vehicles can be resolved.
Chairing a meeting here on Tuesday at the office of Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority (SIDA), the minister also directed the officials to end the illegal occupation of the irrigation rest houses and to rehabilitate the same to put the building to official use.
He advised the officials to prepare a strategy to remove encroachment from the banks of the canals and to overcome the obstacles and delays impeding completion of the development projects.
Lal said the authorities should register FIRs against the people involved in theft of irrigation water.
The minister acknowledged that the complaints regarding shortage of irrigation water in the tail end areas of the irrigation network still existed and underlined the need to address those complaints on priority.
He said the ongoing projects should be completed on time.
Lal suggested the chief engineers of the department to prepare a comprehensive plan to address the irritants which hampered performance of the department’s staff.
Earlier, the Managing Director SIDA Preetam Das, Chief Engineers Zareef Khehro and Haji Khan Jamali briefed the minister about the schemes being executed under the Annual Development Plan (ADP).
According to them, the schemes were facing delays in completion because of the shortage of engineers and staff.
They said a shortfall of vehicles also existed in the authority and admitted that encroachment still existed along the canals’ banks.
They informed the minister that the 6-kilometer-long stretch of Wadhu Wah canal, which passes through Qasimabad town of Hyderabad, had been turned into a drain filled with municipal and commercial sewage.