LAHORE, July 10: Punjab on Wednesday accused Sindh of drawing more water than its share from the national pool and remodelling its canals without the Irsa certification.
In a letter to Indus River System Authority (Irsa), Punjab claimed that Sindh has been drawing more water from river Indus than its due share since the country came out of the water shortage problem a few weeks ago.
In order to substantiate its point of view, Punjab attached the daily usage of Sindh from Sukkur barrage, from where it got 98,229 cusics of water in excess of the designated capacity of the barrage.
This also shows that off-taking canals have been remodelled to receive more water. Punjab maintains that between July 1 and 10, Sindh received 132,952 cusics from the national pool and Punjab got only 109,044 cusics.
Because of this, Punjab has alleged that Tarbela filling has been delayed and around 0.24 million acre feet water has gone into the sea.
Sources said that Punjab irrigation department might soon approach the president, ministry of water and power, and other concerned departments. A briefing in this regard was also given to the Punjab governor, Lt-Gen (retd) Khalid Maqbool.
The Irsa Act rule 8(G) charges all provinces with getting a water availability certificate from the authority for any new water sector project, including re-modelling and enlargement of canals.
Three of the four provinces have followed the rule for projects like, Greater Thal Canal (Punjab), Pehur Canal (NWFP), and Kachi Canal (Balochistan).
But Sindh did not bother to get any such certification, before it started building Chuttrai Dam with a capacity of 0.8maf and remodelled Nara Canal to transfer water.
Had Sindh not been drawing more water, the Tarbela level could have touched 1,469 feet, but it was at 1,451 feet mark on Wednesday.
This also shows spendthrift policy of Sindh when it comes to water consumption, claims a former member of Wapda. Instead of conserving water when available, the province tends to flood its fields, and starts crying foul when drought grips the country.
This has been a pattern for many years, he said. All this went unnoticed, because Punjab chose not to take up the matter at the higher forums. But, Punjab may now try to force better management of water on Sindh.
At present Sindh is getting more water than Punjab for half of canal command area, claims an official of the water wing of Punjab agriculture department.
But, this policy has led to soil disaster; over 48 per cent of Sindh fields have water within five feet of its soil. This waterlogging is ruining the fields. But politics has taken better of farmers’ senses. Sindh must conserve water and save its crop, he asserted. It is not to claim any right on water from Sindh but only to suggest that better management could save water for dry days.
