Inter-provincial body to act in place of CCI: Govt seeks consensus on water projects
By Khaleeq Kiani
ISLAMABAD, July 13: The government is contemplating to arrange a meeting of the inter-provincial coordination committee some time this month to seek consensus on water reservoirs and resolve related disputes on major ongoing projects.
Sources in the water and power ministry told Dawn that federal water and power minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao, who also holds the additional portfolio of inter-provincial coordination, has written to the four chief ministers to make themselves available for a meeting, preferably during the last week of July.
The meeting of the four chief ministers on the question of water-related issues is being proposed as an alternate to the Council of Common Interest, which is practically non-existent at the moment, these sources said, adding that inter-provincial issues are required to be debated upon and settled by the CCI under Article 153 of the Constitution.
Besides the inter-provincial water issues, exchange of criminals among the four provinces would also come under discussion to finalise a modus operandi to contain such a practice, the sources said.
Major issues to come under consideration of the inter- provincial coordination committee include construction of water reservoirs including Kalabagh dam and Diamer-Basha dam, distribution of royalties from profits earned from water, oil and gas, on-going big projects like the greater Thal canal and disputes relating to implementation of 1991 Water Accord, sources said.
The meeting is being convened in view of divergent opinions expressed by the Punjab and Sindh on various related matters during recent months.
Sources said the Punjab government was seeking immediate consensus on the Kalabagh Dam, allocation of waters made available from raising of Mangla dam for its exclusive use and transfer of criminals from other provinces particularly the NWFP. Sindh has repeatedly been requesting that para-2 of the 1991 water apportionment accord be implemented for distribution of water shares instead of the historic-use based apportionment formula and it has also demanded that the decision on construction of Greater Thal Canal be reconsidered.
The Punjab government wants continuation of the existing formula on water distribution in case of shortages which is based on average usage system of 1977-82, commonly known as historic- use basis.
If para-2 of the 1991 accord is restored, Sindh would get an additional five million acre-foot of water. The 1977-82 arrangement provides 54.398 MAF water to Punjab, 43.7 MAF to Sindh, 1.628 MAF to Balochistan and 5.5774 MAF (above rim stations) and 0.318 MAF (lower rim stations) to the NWFP.
On Kalabagh dam, the Punjab wants immediate initiation of consensus building process. Sindh has been indicating it would not oppose Kalabagh dam in case it is used as a carry over dam.
Despite unanimous resolutions from the Sindh assembly against the Greater Thal canal, the construction work is in full swing. Sindh wants this issue to be reconsidered by the CCI or the inter-provincial coordination committee.
