Farmers in Pakistan's Punjab province face irrigation issues due to closure of canals

Bahawalpur [Pakistan], November 1 : Farmers in Pakistan's Punjab province have expressed concerns over the closure of canals across the Bahawalpur division, as they are unable to receive irrigation water, a media report said.
The Panjnad canal in the districts of Bahawalpur and Rahim Yar Khan and the Dallas and Fordwah canals in Bahawalnagar has been closed. It is causing the unavailability of irrigation water for the wheat sown areas across the division, reported Dawn.
Jam Hazoor Baksh, Senior Kissan Board's vice-president and Kissan Ittehad office-bearers said that irrigation water was not be supplied to the fields in the last month and it caused damage to the sown wheat fields.
If the water supply is not resumed immediately, the wheat production may fall during the next year, they said.
In previous years these canals were not closed during this period. But the Punjab irrigation department closed the canals this year, according to Senior Kissan Board and Kissan Ittehad.
However, officials have said that the canals were closed for water management.
Khali Bashir, Irrigation Chief Engineer, said that the canals across Punjab were closed for better water management and assured that the government would release the water in canals in November.
Underlining the irrigation issues, farmer associations have said that currently, peasants could not switch over to alternative resources to water their land as the charges of electricity and diesel to operate their tubewell were already high and they were unable to afford the same, according to Dawn.