Death Looms for a Flood-Control Project BY FELICITY BARRINGER Published: April 9, 2008 STEELE BAYOU, Miss.

DCO Muzaffargarh Dr Akhter Nazir Warriach, while terming the brick-lining of watercourses a milestone initiative, has directed concerned officials to expedite the pace of work to ensure earliest relief to farmers. He was addressing a meeting here to review the pace on this project. He said the government was spending billions of rupees on the brick-lining of watercourses to conserve water by preventing leakage of irrigation water. Due to the effectiveness of this project in the past, the government has decided to continue it for another two years till the accomplishment of the target.

The Barani Integrated Water Resources Sector Project will be launched next fiscal year from July 2008, and it will be completed during 2014 by the Punjab Irrigation and Power Department (PIPD) with the financial assistance of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). According to update project investment plan, PIPD sources said the investment cost of the project is estimated at $104.5 million equivalent, including taxes and duties of $14.4 million equivalent. Financial charges during implementation (comprising interest during implementation and commitment charges) are estimated at $7.5 million.

India's violation of water sharing deal hampers irrigation Raheed Ejaz New Delhi deprives Dhaka of its agreed share of the Ganges water as stipulated by the Gangers Water Sharing Treaty 1996 causing the tributaries to dry up and hampering seriously irrigation in the south-west. India has also not heeded the complaints Bangladesh earlier registered with the Indian authorities.

Only 1.5 per cent of the total irrigated area in India is under micro-irrigation; "lousy delivery mechanism', and not lack of funds, is the reason. G.P. Sampath Kumar Trickle-down effect: Micro- irrigation can help farmers make judicious use of scarce water resources. Rasheeda Bhagat After a 90-minute early morning walk, "it is the usual yoga and exercise for 40 minutes. I spend more than two hours in maintaining this body, which is growing old at the age of 71, with five heart-attacks.'