Nazir Siyal
KARACHI: Auqaf Department of Sindh continuesly violation of High Court orders and heavy corruption in the several schemes in previous PPP government.
There is no such development work have been completed by the contractors at various Auqaf properties/places of different parts of province still in doldrums told sources.
According to the sources, an ongoing CP No: D 287/2013 against Sindh Department Auqaf in Karachi High Court regarding appointments and other contractual position have not been dicided for 3 years.
Despite obey the orders, Chief Administrator of the Department had made further three more appointments, which is complete violation of High Court orders and appointment ban, another employee working on contractual position have filed petition against further appointments and his job he was waiting for the permanent waiting for High Court decision.
Applicant Advocate Kazir Riaz has filled his CP No: 6730/2014 against the regularization and further appointments among Faiz Mohammed Awan, Masood Akhtar/So Mohammed Malik, Munir Ahmed and others.
Sources have also disclosed that the Auqaf Department Sindh announced development schemes of various locations of province but the schemes did not completed or heavy misappropriation have been made or incomplete such projects among various Dargah/Saint places in Larkana, Hyderabad, Karachi and other parts of Sindh.
Sources told that the Chief Administrator Abdul Rehman Channa working for a long in the department and there is no transfer have been made of him as for High Court cases still pending against him and his violation.
Sindh govt bans rice cultivation at left bank of Indus River sides
Nazir Siyal
KARACHI: The government of Sindh has decided to impose complete ban on cultivation of rice in the command areas of the canals of left bank of River Indus to control growing water logging and salinity.
This decision was taken in a high level meeting held with Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah in the chair here on Saturday. The meeting was attended by Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah, MNA Syed Asghar Shah, MPAs Sardar Imdad Ali Pitafi, Syed Murad Ali Shah, Syed Sardfraz Shah, Senior Member Board of Revenue Shahid Gulzar Shaikh, Secretary Irrigation, Commissioners of Sukkur, Mirpurkhas and Shaheed Benazirabad divisions and deputy commissioners of the districts located on the left bank of River Indus.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah said that the perennial canals off-take from Guddu, Sukkur and kotri barrages have a very length command area of more than 150 to 350 kilometers. Therefore, water shortage persists at their tail end. “These canals are meant for dry kharif crops. But, cultivation of rice in the command areas of these canals have further aggravate water shortage because paddy crop requires heavy water dozes,” he said and added that the as a result, sub-soil water level has elevated and brought water logging an salinity issues to a dangerous proportion and destroying the entire green belt of Left bank of River Indus.
Syed Khursheed Shah, leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, said that there was a dire need of changing cropping pattern, otherwise entire left bank strip of the province would turn into fish ponds and lakes of saline water and human settlements would vanish away if cultivation of rice was allowed further.
MPA Sardar Ahmed Ali Pitafi said that climatically Sindh has the distinction to cultivate early kharif crops but irrigation department releases water in the concerned canals and distributaries very late, therefore growers are left with no choice but to grow rice. “Rice cultivation is easy and it does not require hard labour and extra care, that is why the growers prefer to cultivate rice,” he added.
MNA Syed Sarfraz Shah, MPAs Syed Murad Ali Shah and Nasir Shah being growers of the left bank command areas said that the growing water-logging have destroyed standing fruit orchards. “If the cultivation of rice is not banned in the command areas of the left bank of River Indus the concept of good agricultural lands would dwindled away,” the concluded.
The chief minister said that the problems of command area of perennial channels has become once again a menace and is surfacing specially in the command areas of Ghotki Feeder Canal System, Rohri Canal System, Nara Canal system, KKhairpur Feeder East System and Khairpur Feeder West system.”The Sindh government has incurred heavy expenditures of millions of rupees on the installation, maintenance and operation of tube-wells to control water table but it again rise up with cultivation of rice and this crop also causes serious water shortage at the tail end,,” he said.
The chief minister also pointed out that the Sindh government has already imposed ban on cultivation of dry crops into paddy crops on January 2, 1999.
He directed the Senior Member Board of Revenue Mr Shahid Gulzar Shaikh to issue an notification to ban rice cultivation in the command areas of Left bank canals and also directed all the concerned commissioners to implement the government decision at any cost.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali also directed the secretary law and Senior Member Board Of Revenue to initiate legislation to enhance punishment and penalty which must come to at least six month imprisonment and penalty of Rs2000,000 to Rs500,000 for violation of ban on rice cultivation.
He also directed agriculture department to take necessary measures to inform the growers about the government decision and guide them to switch over to other low deltaic crops.
The government of Sindh has decided to impose complete ban on cultivation of rice in the command areas of the canals of left bank of River Indus to control growing water logging and salinity.
This decision was taken in a high level meeting held with Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah in the chair here on Saturday. The meeting was attended by Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah, MNA Syed Asghar Shah, MPAs Sardar Imdad Ali Pitafi, Syed Murad Ali Shah, Syed Sardfraz Shah, Senior Member Board of Revenue Shahid Gulzar Shaikh, Secretary Irrigation, Commissioners of Sukkur, Mirpurkhas and Shaheed Benazirabad divisions and deputy commissioners of the districts located on the left bank of River Indus.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah said that the perennial canals off-take from Guddu, Sukkur and kotri barrages have a very length command area of more than 150 to 350 kilometers. Therefore, water shortage persists at their tail end. “These canals are meant for dry kharif crops. But, cultivation of rice in the command areas of these canals have further aggravate water shortage because paddy crop requires heavy water dozes,” he said and added that the as a result, sub-soil water level has elevated and brought water logging an salinity issues to a dangerous proportion and destroying the entire green belt of Left bank of River Indus.
Syed Khursheed Shah, leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, said that there was a dire need of changing cropping pattern, otherwise entire left bank strip of the province would turn into fish ponds and lakes of saline water and human settlements would vanish away if cultivation of rice was allowed further.
MPA Sardar Ahmed Ali Pitafi said that climatically Sindh has the distinction to cultivate early kharif crops but irrigation department releases water in the concerned canals and distributaries very late, therefore growers are left with no choice but to grow rice. “Rice cultivation is easy and it does not require hard labour and extra care, that is why the growers prefer to cultivate rice,” he added.
MNA Syed Sarfraz Shah, MPAs Syed Murad Ali Shah and Nasir Shah being growers of the left bank command areas said that the growing water-logging have destroyed standing fruit orchards. “If the cultivation of rice is not banned in the command areas of the left bank of River Indus the concept of good agricultural lands would dwindled away,” the concluded.
The chief minister said that the problems of command area of perennial channels has become once again a menace and is surfacing specially in the command areas of Ghotki Feeder Canal System, Rohri Canal System, Nara Canal system, KKhairpur Feeder East System and Khairpur Feeder West system.”The Sindh government has incurred heavy expenditures of millions of rupees on the installation, maintenance and operation of tube-wells to control water table but it again rise up with cultivation of rice and this crop also causes serious water shortage at the tail end,” he said.
The chief minister also pointed out that the Sindh government has already imposed ban on cultivation of dry crops into paddy crops on January 2, 1999.
He directed the Senior Member Board of Revenue Mr Shahid Gulzar Shaikh to issue an notification to ban rice cultivation in the command areas of Left bank canals and also directed all the concerned commissioners to implement the government decision at any cost.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali also directed the secretary law and Senior Member Board Of Revenue to initiate legislation to enhance punishment and penalty which must come to at least six month imprisonment and penalty of Rs2000,000 to Rs500,000 for violation of ban on rice cultivation.
He also directed agriculture department to take necessary measures to inform the growers about the government decision and guide them to switch over to other low deltaic crops.