April 10, 2003	Thursday	Safar 7, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, April 9: The Indus River System Authority has decided to distribute water among provinces on historic-use basis during the Kharif season, as Sindh dropped its demand that some water should reach downstream Kotri areas.

Irsa Chairman Nasar Ali Rajput told reporters after an advisory committee meeting of the authority here on Wednesday that Sindh did not repeat its earlier demand for distribution of water according to para-2 of the water accord by adjusting downstream water in the overall water availability.

Instead, Sindh agreed to distribution of water on the basis of historic-use and that 2maf water that went downstream Kotri should be shared between two provinces on the basis of shares as envisaged under para-2 of the accord, he said.

The Irsa chairman said all stakeholders accepted that some water should reach downstream Kotri but were divided on its quantity. A study, he said, was underway to determine how much water should reach downstream Kotri.

To a question, he said never in the past water meant for downstream Kotri was distributed among the provinces under para-2, and added that it was a temporary arrangement required under the current situation.

He said water availability would be reviewed again during the first week of June and adjustments would be made accordingly because situation could change by that time.

Asked what made Sindh change its stance, the Irsa chairman said an answer to this question should come from that province. He, however, said water could not reach downstream Kotri during the last three years.

Under para-2 of the 1991 accord, water distribution has to be made strictly on the basis of ratios as agreed in the apportionment accord, while section 14(2) required that in case of shortage shares should be based on historic use.

He said the Sindh-Punjab dispute over sharing of water in case of shortage that had been referred to the federal government last year could not be taken up by parliament because the matter had to be referred to the Council of Common Interest first which was non-existent at the moment.

The Irsa chief said the provinces also agreed to fill and deplete Mangla and Tarbela on a proportionate basis simultaneously.

Mr Rajput said there would be a shortage of one per cent during the early Kharif season and seven per cent in the late Kharif season under the minimum availability scenario. However, under the most likely estimate overall shortage would be one per cent and four per cent, respectively in the early and late Kharif season.

He said Sindh would get an overall share of 28.131maf of water during the entire season, including 6.79maf in the early season and 21.34maf in the late season.

Punjab is most likely to get 33.78maf during the whole season. Of this, it would receive 11.15maf during the early Kharif and 22.63maf during the late Kharif season. Early Kharif season begins from April 1 and ends at June 10, while the period between June 11 and Sept 30 is called late Kharif.

Balochistan and NWFP would get their shares as envisaged under the water accord at 2.848maf and 0.823maf, respectively. Sindh and Punjab would together receive 63maf as against 68maf share envisaged under the accord due to shortage.

TELEMETRY SYSTEM: The Indus River System Authority has expressed its inability to take over the Rs450 million telemetry system due to non-availability of technical staff and funds.

A senior Irsa official told Dawn on Wednesday that the authority had written to the ministry of water and power, asking it to direct Wapda to run the project.

Meanwhile, contractors who have installed telemetry censors at 23 locations in all the four provinces have refused to install more censors at four locations in Sindh and Balochistan unless complete security was provided to them.

The locations where censors could not be installed as yet include Pat Feeder, Uch, Matani, besides another location in Balochistan.

The Irsa official said the chief secretaries of the two provinces were making strenuous efforts to ensure safety of contractors at these locations but no progress had so far been made.

He said the telemetry system was still in the trial phase as it faced some problems during initial testing, although Wapda was required to hand over the project to Irsa before March 31.

Notwithstanding technical testing, Irsa informed the government that it was not technically capable to run the project and instead Wapda should be asked to manage it.

The official said Irsa had asked the government well in advance to release the required funds so that it could hire technical staff and train them to run the telemetry system. The required amount, however, was not released by the finance ministry despite its provision under the PSDP-2002-03.

The telemetry system was to be inaugurated by the prime minister in the first week of April but it has now been postponed for the third week and that too if Wapda agrees to take the responsibility.

Irsa sources said Wapda had completed the installation of 23 devices at a cost of Rs290 million. The remaining amount of Rs150 million required for the recruitment of technical staff to run the project has not been released by the finance ministry.

The sources said Irsa had written to the finance ministry twice during the last two months to release the amount so that the telemetry system could be put to operation but in vain.

The telemetry system would record hourly data of water releases from dams, barrages and other points at the central monitoring room and nobody would be in a position to draw more or less water than allocated by Irsa.