PESHAWAR
The provincial chairman of Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) Sikander Hayat Khan Sherpao has formally asked the Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (CS-KP) Dr Shahzad Bangash to take necessary steps required for immediate restoration of Munda headworks which was severely damaged in recent floods in River Swat.
He said that production of major crops and fruit orchards would be severely damaged if the irrigation system connected with the headworks was not repaired and restored to its previous position.
According to a press release issued by QWP secretariat in Peshawar, Sikander Sherpao wrote to the CS-KP and demanded immediate restoration of flood-hit Munda-headworks in Charsadda district.
The QWP provincial chairman in his letter explained the importance of the above-mentioned headworks for the agricultural lands and said that it irrigates the Lower Swat Canal, the Tangi Lift Irrigation Scheme, the Doaba Canal, and the Shulgarh Canal system.
“The heavy floods in river Swat had washed away six out of eight gates of the headworks which irrigates 189,300 acres of land in Charsadda, Mardan and Nowshera districts of KP,” he stated.
Majority of the population of the three districts depend on agriculture and crops including sugarcane, wheat, fruit orchids and vegetables lands requiring regular supply of water for better yield which has been halted due to damaged Munda headworks.
“Wheat sowing is scheduled to begin in the last week of October and provision of stable water supply for these crops is essential,” he maintained.
The letter said that complete restoration of the headworks will take time as the recent floods have caused widespread destruction and the government was engaged in relief and rehabilitation operations.
Mr Sherpao calls for taking personal interest in making water supply possible to the agricultural lands of the three districts as soon as possible.
It was clarified that any delay in repairing work would not only adversely affect this year’s crops but also jeopardize the sugarcane crop and next year’s wheat crop, resulting in a decline in agricultural production in the province.
