LAHORE, Sept 4: The Punjab has reportedly refused to accept Irsa’s decision to issue a Water Availability Certificate for the Katchi and PAT-Feeder Extension canals being constructed in Balochistan, describing it as “unconstitutional” and “non-technical.”

Listing its objections to the decision, a spokesman of the Punjab government claimed that Irsa had not only overruled a higher constitutional body, ECNEC, but also ignored technical realities that render the decision impractical.

By linking water availability in these canals to the Mangla raising project, Irsa has violated the decision taken by the Executive Council of National Economic Committee.

Being a body lower in constitutional order, Irsa cannot change the decisions of a higher constitutional authority. The role of Irsa is advisory and it can refer a decision back to the higher authority (if it disagrees), but cannot change it, as it did on Tuesday by issuing certificate for two canals.

Explaining the alleged violation by Irsa, the spokesman said, the ECNEC had approved the Mangla raising project as a replacement (creating capacity for storage loss) component, not an additional storage. A replacement component cannot be placed under the Para 4 of the Water Accord and allocated to the province, but additional water can be allocated, he said.

While issuing certificate for both the canals, Irsa took the Mangla capacity as additional storage and allocated water to these canals. “Irsa is unauthorized to do so. That is why the Punjab is not accepting the decision.”

He said also the format of certificates had its shortcomings. “The certification ignores 20 to 25 per cent water losses that are bound to occur when these two canals are fed from Mangla covering a long route.”

Irsa has allocated water at the canal head regulators, not at the dam. If water losses are taken into account, the total quantity of water allocated to these canals goes above the so-called additional water, he said.

“The authority has also violated the accepted formula of the distribution by issuing certificate for cumulative water shares,” he said. The basis for share calculation is 10-day use, not a cumulative allocation. Irsa issued certificate for the total share by ignoring the very basis of national water sharing, he said.

He said the Punjab had refused to accept the decision on these grounds and its member wrote a dissenting note and planned to pursue it at a higher level.

Irsa on Tuesday issued water availability certificate for both canals by a majority vote, overruling the objections raised by the Punjab when the rest of three provinces joined hands to outvote the former.

Keeping in view the integrated use of water and taking Mangla raising as additional capacity, it allocated 2.012 million-acre-foot water for the Katchi canal and 0.469maf for the Pat-Feeder Extension Canal out of the total capacity of 2.9maf that the raised Mangla dam is expected to create.