KARACHI, March 8: President Pervez Musharraf on Friday announced immediate relief measures, worth Rs10 billion approximately, for rehabilitation of irrigation system in Sindh.

The president assured a meeting at the Governor’s House that the federal government would assist in rehabilitating the system in the province and added that a special meeting of the Executive Committee of National Economic Council would be convened to approve the rehabilitation project.

He directed the finance ministry to sanction whatever amount was required for the project and announced immediate grant of Rs2 billion to start work.

He ordered that work for the installation of telemetry system for the Indus Basin Irrigation System be started immediately.

The president was briefed by Wapda chairman Lt-Gen Zulfikar Ali Khan about the problems being faced by Sindh about the availability of irrigation water.

It was pointed out that there were four areas which are cause of concern: overall shortage of water in the country, problem of water distribution among the provinces, problem of water supply within Sindh, and deterioration of the irrigation system.

The meeting was told that the irrigation system in Sindh had deteriorated over the years which has turned out to be one of the causes of wastage of water.

President Musharraf took a serious note of the difficulties being faced by poor farmers and directed the concerned departments to address all the four problem areas immediately.

Referring to the telemetry system, he said the objective of this system would be availability of (a) online information about the water availability and flow at the two dams and 18 barrages, and (b) building confidence among the provinces.

The meeting was informed that system components would be (1) measurement position of gates, water level and flow by censorsm, (2) data transmission through satellite and (3) installation of a computer system for data analysis and information.

The president approved the project costing Rs450 million and issued orders for the release of funds.

The initial estimate of time required for the completion of this project was two years, but the president directed that the work be completed within one year.

As an interim measure, the president approved the immediate relocation of two flood telemetry stations at Chashma and Taunsa within 30 days so that all the provinces could have full information about the water discharge position.

The president further directed that to continuously check the water flow at Chashma, Taunsa and Lahore, a representative executive engineer from Sindh, Punjab and Wapda would be posted at these three places for monitoring of flow.

Regarding internal distribution of water in Sindh, and to remove anomalies in the unauthorized use of irrigation water depriving the tail-enders of their due share, the president directed that thorough checking be carried out to detect such unauthorized use of water so that tail-enders may not suffer.

The meeting was attended by Sindh Governor Mohammedmian Soomro, Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz, Petroleum Minister Usman Aminuddin, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Shahid Amjad, Corps Commanders of Karachi and Quetta, provincial ministers. —PPI/APP