Punjab’s share of water cut to meet Sindh need

"In view of Sindh’s needs the Punjab government agreed to reduce its share from 33,000 to 18,000 cusecs." — File Photo
ISLAMABAD: In an ad hoc arrangement to cope with the current water crisis, the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) on Friday cut Punjab’s share by over 45 per cent to provide Sindh maximum water to meet its early Kharif requirements.

Irsa Chairman Rao Irshad Ali Khan told journalists that a sudden drop in temperatures in Skardu and other northern parts of the country had led to a worsening of the water situation in rivers and dams, creating problem for sowing requirements of Sindh.

In view of Sindh’s needs, he said, the Punjab government agreed to reduce its share from 33,000 to 18,000 cusecs.

Irsa, therefore, decided to meet Sindh’s full indent of 45,000 cusecs which would be met through 40,000 cusecs discharge from Tarbela and 6,000 cusecs from Mangla through Panjnad.

The storage at Mangla was about 550,000 acre feet, the Irsa chief said, adding that the ad hoc arrangement would remain in place in accordance with para-2 of the water accord till April 20 when the authority would review the situation.

He said the meteorological department had forecast a reasonable rainfall over the weekend that was expected to improve river flows.

Sindh Irrigation Secretary Rafique Memon said he had told the meeting that the province would not accept a cut in its water share to absorb the shortage and the contention had been accepted by the chairman and other participants.

He said it would be seen on April 20 how the two larger provinces should share the shortage in case of a drop in river flows.

Irsa spokesman Khalid Idris Rana said Punjab had agreed to reduce by 45-50 per cent its share approved by the authority’s advisory committee on March 31. He said water discharges from Mangla would be increased if flows in the Indus did not improve.

He said storage at Tarbela might touch its dead level of 1,378 feet on Saturday as it stood at 1,380.4 feet on Friday. The water level at Mangla was 1,092 feet , a little above its dead level of 1,040 feet.

Khalid Rana said higher releases to Sindh would be adjusted against its share in the run-up to the conclusion of the current season.

He said river flows had not improved over the past few days and worsened on Friday. River Kabul which was flowing at 17,200 cusecs on Thursday fell to 15,600 cusecs on Friday. Chenab flows also reduced from 14,162 to 12,092 cusecs.

Inflows into Jhelum at Mangla improved to 32,190 cusecs on Thursday but again fell to 28,984 cusecs, while the Indus flow slightly came down by 100 cusecs to 20,700 cusecs.