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ISLAMABAD, April 10: An advisory committee meeting of the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) ended here on Wednesday in fiasco amid walkout by three provinces on the question of sharing water shortages purely on the basis of 1991 Water Accord.
“It has been mutually decided in the meeting that water distribution sharing for kharif 2002 will be done according to Water Apportionment Accord 1991,” Irsa Secretary Sohail Ali Khan told reporters after rejoining the news briefing which he had left after receiving a call on the intercom.
Earlier, he had said the advisory committee had ratified the recommendations of the technical committee meeting on March 27. The technical committee had recommended sharing the shortages on the basis of annual average use basis of 1977-82, commonly known as historic uses.
“Don’t push me too much and try to understand my limitations. It is not in the national interest to send negative signals across,” Irsa secretary said repeatedly when told by the reporters that the two statements were contradictory.
When reached to clarify the position, Irsa Chairman Noor Mohammad Baloch said shortages would be shared on the basis of 1991 accord. On a question, he said annual average uses were also in accordance with the accord. He could not clarify the difference between the two situations, and said it would be clear only at the end of the season.
As the two provinces — Punjab and Sindh — remained stuck to their guns to share shortages on the 1977-82 average annual use basis or 1991 Water Accord, Balochistan and the NWFP protested in the advisory committee that a cut in water share should not be applied to them in case of shortages.
An immediate meeting of the authority convened soon after the advisory committee meeting was then informed by the Irsa chairman that he would record the decision “that water distribution sharing for kharif 2002 will be done according to Water Apportionment Accord 1991.”
DENIAL: This implied that all the provinces would be given water share out of 114 million acre feet (maf) given in the para 2 of the accord after calculating shortages accordingly. On this, member Punjab Mian Hafizullah and irrigation consultant A.R. Siddiqui left the meeting. An Irsa official later conceded that Balochistan and the NWFP had staged a walkout from the advisory committee but denied that Punjab also did the same, and said they had to rush to Lahore in emergency.
In a related move, Punjab has asked Irsa to investigate as to how water losses have touched a staggering figure of 70 per cent between Sukkur and Kotri, an official said. On April 6, 8.5 thousand cusecs water was released from Sukkur but only 2.8 thousand cusecs could reach Kotri after four days. Normal evaporation and system losses could not go beyond 20 per cent, the official said.
The technical committee, which has to implement the decisions, had not received a final decision in writing till close of offices and it was not clear as to how water shortages would be shared in the next few days.
An official said the chairman was of the view that shortages should not be shared on historic use basis for a month so that a clear direction from the Chief Executive Secretariat is received after the presidential referendum which was strongly opposed by Punjab, the NWFP and Balochistan.
Under the existing arrangement, the NWFP and Balochistan are unaffected by the shortages while under the chairman’s view they were to face cuts in their water share as well.
The question of raising Mangla Dam’s water level from 1,202 to 1,212 feet also could not be resolved as Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) had informed Irsa that water level would be maintained at 1,202 feet and increased later, keeping in mind technical issues and also if flood water so allowed.
The anticipated projection of water availability at rim stations was put at 16.197maf during early kharif and 73.41maf over the whole kharif season. Storages were accordingly projected at 2.855maf lower during early kharif and 8.921maf lower during the full season.
