The fate of Punjab Irrigation and Drainage Authority (PIDA) hangs in balance, as the life span given to it is going to terminate on December 31, 2004.
Details revealed that PIDA was established by the provincial government in 1998 under the World Bank soft loan (financial assistance) of Rs 13 billion, which was a part of National Drainage Programme (NDP) a World Bank project initiated with an amount of Rs 31 billion countrywide.
Though the primary objective of setting up the Authority was to privatise the canals and distributary system to the farming community gradually, involve them in the water distribution and management, yet nothing could be done on ground so far except paper work.
The officials of the donor agency and other quarters have been showing great concern over the rampant corruption in the Authority as well as the Irrigation Department.
As the PIDA was not created through the act of parliament and established for a period of six years by the provincial Irrigation Department which has now sent a summary to the Planning and Development (P&D) Board to extend its lease period for another two years.