A 100-feet breach in the embankment of Rice Canal at Esso Thebo village near Mehar town submerged 300 hundred acres of farmland, five fish farms and 25 thatched cottages of several villages on Sunday. Due to constant erosion, the weak section of the dyke could not withstand strong currents, and consequently breached on Sunday morning, said the villagers who attributed the cause to substandard repair and renovation work, besides lack of inspection and supervision by the Irrigation department. Meanwhile, farmers of the villages rushed to the site and informed the Irrigation authorities who failed to respond immediately, and so they had to prevent the further loss on a self-help basis. However, farmers suffered a loss of millions of rupees, and demanded help from the district administration to recover. They informed that a desilting and repair programme to strengthen the Rice Canal was launched by the Irrigation department in the previous tenure of Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) provincial government in Sindh; however, the programme was ineffective and the funds were embezzled by the Irrigation officials. Later, they appealed to National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Justice (Rtd) Javed Iqbal, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar, Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan and Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah to take notice of the malpractices and embezzlement of funds which were granted to repair the embankments and de-siltation of the Rice Canal, and take action accordingly to deliver justice to the affected farmers and villagers. Published in Daily Times, August 20th 2018.