SARAI MUGHAL: Farmers are urgently calling for proper maintenance of an old canal that waters their fields after a recent breach caused flooding and crop damage.
The Problem Canal:
- The Rakh Rajba Ghamun Mender canal is very old and its walls are weak.
- To make it work, farmers often have to build temporary earth walls (dykes) to direct water.
- The pipes (outlets) taking water from the main canal to different areas have been changed, meaning some farmers get too much water while others at the end of the canal get too little.
Farmers’ Complaints:
- Unfair Water Sharing: Farmer Muhammad Nawaz Hanjra says irrigation officials favor big landowners, giving them more water. This leaves farmers at the end of the canal without enough, and complaints haven’t helped.
- Poor Maintenance: Farmer Haji Jamil Ahmad accuses the irrigation department of only cleaning some parts of the canal and doing superficial repair work. He claims they report work as complete without proper checks.
- Flooding Risk: Farmers say when they need water, it doesn’t reach the end. But during heavy rain, officials close the outlets of favored farmers. This causes the water level in the weak canal to rise dangerously high, leading to breaches.
Recent Damage:
- A breach near Kot Bhattian Hanjra Kalan flooded 40 acres of crops (including maize and vegetables).
- Floodwater even entered farmers’ homes.
- Farmers had to build emergency dykes themselves to try and stop the water.
Official Response:
- Area SDO (Sub-Divisional Officer) Muhammad Arshad stated that canal cleaning happens seasonally and staff helps farmers build protective dykes.
- He did not provide details about maintenance schedules, cleaning quality, or staff deployment.
Farmers’ Demand:
The farmers insist the canal needs proper, thorough cleaning and the construction of permanent gates to control water flow and prevent future disasters. This is the third rewrite request today – they seem to be processing multiple news items, possibly for educational purposes or content simplification. Looking at the article’s content: it describes serious canal maintenance problems in Sarai Mughal. The core issues include weak canal infrastructure, unfair water distribution favoring big landowners, superficial maintenance by officials, and recent flooding damage to crops and homes. The farmers’ voices come through strongly with specific accusations against irrigation department officials. Hmm… the challenge will be condensing these multiple layers while keeping the farmers’ grievances clear. The key points to preserve are: 1) The canal’s structural weakness 2) Water distribution injustice 3) Negligent maintenance practices 4) Concrete impact of recent breach 5) Officials’ inadequate response Noticing the user consistently wants neutral but accessible rewrites. For this agricultural piece, I should maintain the urgency of the farmers’ situation while avoiding overly emotional language. The photo caption about temporary embankments is actually important context – shows how communities are compensating for institutional failure. The SDO’s non-response in the original article speaks volumes. I’ll present his evasiveness factually rather than interpretatively. Farmers’ demand for permanent gates makes a strong closing point. Word count management will be tight – the original has many location names and procedural details that can be streamlined. Keeping “Kot Bhattian Hanjra Kalan” as the specific breach site maintains authenticity while other less crucial village names can be generalized. …Double-checking that all farmer accusations are presented as claims (“allege”/”accuse”) to maintain journalistic objectivity even in simplified format. The 40-acre damage statistic stays – it quantifies the crisis effectively.
