LOWER DIR: The 76-kilometer irrigation channel has been closed for the past three years due to minor repairs. Due to the drying up of the canal, millions of acres of agricultural land have become barren.
Thousands of victims demand improvement in their conditions.
The project, the Balambat to Jandol Irrigation Channel, built with a huge amount of billions, which was approved and completed by the former provincial finance minister and former central Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami Siraj-ul-Haq after a long struggle during the Jamaat-e-Islami era, had done a great favor to the various nations here. Because thanks to the water of this canal taken from the Panjkoda River, millions of acres of barren land and mountains were brought under cultivation.Due to which the livelihood of thousands of people was depended on it. There was greenery everywhere. There was water in abundance everywhere. But unfortunately, a few years ago, due to torrential rains and mountain floods, a crack had formed in the said canal. Due to which the Irrigation Department and the District Administration of Lower Dir have stopped the water of the canal at the point where it meets the Panjkoda River. Due to which the canal dried up and drought everywhere and the water level went underground, water stopped coming to the wells and springs, while the green agricultural lands started becoming barren again. And for the last three years here thousands of families became unemployed. In this regard, under the leadership of Niaz Ali Roghani, Vice Chairman Village Council Manoge, people from various affected villages including Haji Umar Zameen Khan, Haji Muntazar Khun, Malik Zubair, Haji Nazar Gul Qari Siddique, Kifayat Khan, Wazi Naseem General Counselor, Saeed Heeran, Fazal Haq and Asif Rashid and others strongly demanded from the provincial government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the district government of Lower Dir and the irrigation department to revive the Balambat Irrigation Channel project and address the problems of thousands of affected people and millions of acres of land
