HYDERABAD: Water crisis threatening Sindh’s economy: expert
Bureau Report
HYDERABAD, Dec 22: Irrigation expert A.N.G. Abbasi has warned the persistent water shortage will utterly destroy agricultural sector and economy of Sindh in the next 10 to 15 years.
He was speaking at the second session of the two-day international conference on ‘Sindhi unity — Sindh strategy,’ held under the aegis of the World Sindhi Congress here on Saturday.
The former Sindh irrigation minister urged growers, political forces and intellectuals of Sindh to press the provincial government to take a firm stand on the water issue.
Ruling out further distribution of the River Indus water or the need for constructing large reservoirs, he said water flow in the rivers was so erratic one could not even think of constructing large water reservoirs or barrages in the country.
Abbasi said an above average flow of water had been recoded in the rivers in only 27 years since 1922, while the flow remained below average during the remaining years.
Punjab, he deplored, was neither prepared to accept Sindh’s point of view nor was it ready to share water shortage.
Rejecting the proposals for Sehwan barrage and Reni canal, he said the schemes had no meaning in the face of unavailability of water in the rivers.
He said Punjab was violating the fundamental principle of irrigation, according to which the existing waterways and canals had the first right over available water.
Speaking on the occasion, Abdul Majeed Qazi attributed water shortage in Sindh to Punjab’s refusal to share the shortage.
He said that the Council of Common Interest had rejected the construction of Thal canal as it was not included in the original document of the 1991 Water Accord.
He said the people had already rejected the construction of Kalabagh dam on the basis of legal, technical and political objections.
The president of the Sindh Abadgar Board, Abdul Majeed Nizamani, said that gastroenteritis had spread all over lower Sindh because no water had been released downstream Kotri Barrage.
He said that 65 per cent of the province’s population, including Karachi, lived in downstream areas.
Nizamani also said that Sindh’s agricultural sector had suffered a loss of Rs27 billion during the past two years, adding sugar mills in Sindh had resorted to a lockout while the mills in the other provinces had already started the crushing season.
He said if the sugar mills of Sindh had started the crushing season on time, over 300,000 acres could have been spared for wheat cultivation.
The president of the Sindh Water Committee and the chief of the Awami Tehrik, Rasool Bux Palijo accused Punjab of disregarding major water agreements, saying Chashma-Jhelum and Taunsa-Punjnad canals could not be opened without the consent of Sindh.
Earlier, the elections of the WSC for 2003 were held. Munawar Halepoto was re-elected as the chairman of the Congress while Faqir Rehmatullah Heesbani and Ayub Rind were elected vice-chairmen.
