Acute power and water crisis continued in Sukkur despite many protests of people as frequency and duration of loadshedding has increased making life more difficult for public. Power crisis which started three months ago has been translated into an acute water shortage in the city especially for thickly populated New Pind, Shah Khalid colony, Bihar colony, New Goth, Neem Ki Chari, Jillani road, Islam Ganj, Queens road, Ayub Gate, Takkar Muhalla areas. Residents of these areas fetch water from hand pumps in low lying areas.

The President of Sindh Abadgar Board, Abdul Majeed Nizamani, has stressed the need for carrying out comprehensive research on agriculture and irrigation water with the objective to enhance yield per acre in the country. The neighbouring country, India, is spending 1.3 percent of GDP on water research and three percent on agriculture research, but in Pakistan only 0.3 percent of total GDP has been allocated for the purpose, he said while talking to Business Recorder here on Friday. He said there was need for comprehensive research to find out the causes of shortage of water so that in the light of these findings concrete measures could be adopted to overcome the longstanding problem of acute shortage of water every year for Rabi and Kharif crops. In the absence of any study for the release of water towards downstream of the river, the sea intrusion rendered millions of acres of agricultural land uncultivated, he said, and underlined the need for a detailed study in this respect. About the shortage of irrigation water, Nizamani claimed that 72 percent shortage of water in Sindh adversely affected the Rabi crops of the season and if such shortage of water continued, it could also affect the Kharif crops. Though Sindh Irrigation Department has admitted shortage of 48 percent of water. However, the factual position is that the province had suffered 72 percent shortage this season, he added. Copyright Business Recorder, 2008