November 24, 2003	Monday	Ramazan 28, 1424

The Rs450 million telemetry system is in doldrums due to its ownership controversy and the non-availability of funds. The system has been installed at 23 important distribution points of our irrigation system by Wapda. However, the installation of telemetry gauge at the head of Thal canal, to have up-to-date water release data from Chashma, has not been completed as yet.

The components of this system will be measurement position of gates, water level and flows by censors, data transmission through satellite and installation of computer system for data analysis and information.

The expected annual operating and maintenance costs are Rs25.45 million. However, the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) has expressed its inability to take-over the system. Notwithstanding the technical testing, Irsa has informed the government that it was not technically capable to run the project and wants that Wapda should be asked to manage it.

The Federal Minister for Water and Power, Aftab Ahmed Sherpao, has reportedly directed Wapda to continue operating telemetry system till Irsa is equipped to take over. However, it is not clear as yet, as to who will own, maintain and run this system. There are also reports that this system is being contracted out to a third party as both Wapda and Irsa are reluctant to run it.

It will be worthwhile to note that the telemetry system was to be inaugurated by the prime minister during the first week of March this year but was postponed for 30th September, which too had lapsed. It seems that the telemetry system has became a bone of contention among Irsa, Wapda and the provincial irrigation departments.

The installation of telemetry gauges which are linked directly to a centrally computerized monitoring room set up at Irsa office in Islamabad has been completed at a cost of Rs290 million. The remaining portion of Rs150 million has not been released by the ministry of finance as yet, which is said to be delaying the formal commissioning of the project. Even if funds were released now it would take four to five months to recruit the technical staff to run the system.

The telemetry system will replace the manual system at the barrages and off-taking canals along the river Indus and other rivers in Indus basin over which the provinces have serious observations with regard to reported water discharges.

Irrigation is crucial to an agricultural country like Pakistan. The developed countries have been using the telemetry system for the distribution of water due to its credibility and transparency for years.

The Indus river basin is one of the largest interconnected irrigation systems of the world. For quite some time information, equitable water distribution, sharing shortages and flood forecasting has been the operational bottlenecks of this complicated system.

To address this issue, automatic telemetry system has been adopted. The design of this system is such that no human interference in data acquisition, communication or processing will be possible. It will also be possible for each office to cross-check the data received at the other end under certain authority levels as defined electronically.

The existing manual operation for managing the irrigation system of the country is conducted through indents over phone or fax. Decisions for water distribution are taken based on the information of water availability calculated manually at barrages and obtained over phone/fax by Irsa. This method creates misunderstandings among the provinces.

Since the stakeholders get their share of water on the basis of this secondary information, the mistrust situation is inevitable. Further, the actual gate positions at each barrage/dam are not known and are not verifiable. Therefore, usually the provinces blame each other for stealing their water.

The telemetry system would make available online information and flow of water at all dams and barrages, and would also build confidence among the provinces to measure the water level, flow of water, gate position on the barrages and canals and immediate transmission of data on water.

The hourly data of water releases from dams, barrages and other points collected by the system will be transmitted to Irsa headquarters through Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) satellite link, where it would be further processed and used by the ministry of water and power, provincial irrigation secretaries and Wapda to be able to have a real time access to water release data read by computers, thus taking the whole process out of human discretion. Consequently, all the recipients of this data are likely to get up-to-date picture of the regional water extraction and distribution situation, provided system works smoothly.

Although, the telemetry system is still in a trial phase but Wapda has declared the system fully dependable. However, the provinces contest this claim and have not started using the data as yet due to their serious apprehensions regarding the calibration process. The provinces require that the system needs to be upgraded to their satisfaction and technical requirements before it could be declared dependable. They are of the view that in its present form, the system is unable to serve the purpose it was designed for.

According to them, the system has not been working properly because it is not calibrated precisely and is commissioned in haste. They are of the view that the calibration process of the Indus basin like system, which is subject to great seasonal fluctuations, must take at least a year because the system has to be scrupulously checked in seasons of high flood, low water supply and drought, simultaneously.

Irrespective of other things the most important question is that do we have the capabilities to maintain and run such a sophisticated system. Having such a system either from our own kitty or out of foreign aid is not an issue, but the real issue for us is to maintain and run it. One such high-tech system (microwave communication) was provided to the Pakistan Railways during early 80s at a cost of billions of rupees to keep the stations in close contact from Karachi to Peshawar. The system would have also provided contact of moving train drivers with the stations if utilized properly, but unfortunately it has completely failed even to provide general information regarding the correct arrival timings of trains on up and down tracks. The system has not been fully operational due to the lack of skilled professionals to maintain and operate such a system.

This is not the only example, but certain other sophisticated equipments are lying idle in our number of public sector organizations for want of technical and professional expertize and operational expenses. It is feared that the much publicized telemetry system may not meet the same fate.