Kisan Board Pakistan (KBP) while expressing strong reservations on Punjab Municipal Water Act 2010 has claimed that approval of this act would make access to underground water impossible and hundred of thousands of acres of agricultural land situated within the municipal limits would become barren.
KBP warned the provincial government to refrain from any such law, which would make utilisation of underground water for agricultural purposes impossible. Otherwise, they warned, the board would show strong resistance, said KBP Chief Sardar Zafar Hussein and Secretary Malik Muhammad Ramzan Rohari while commenting on news of imposition of Punjab Municipal Water Act 2010.
They termed the situation very serious and said that the country was already facing severe shortage of canal water and a large area under cultivation was irrigated through underground water. Levy of taxes on utilisation of underground water or imposing any sort of control on it would make it impossible to irrigate the agricultural land turning it barren. It would lead to severe food shortage in the country, Kisan Board leaders warned. Sardar Zafar and Ramzan said Pakistan could save millions of cubic feet of water if rulers could stop India from its water aggression, 'waderas' from water pilferage and improve conditions of watercourses.