ISLAMABAD, May 16: Sindh has protested over water releases which it says are 10 per cent lower than its approved share at the start of the current Kharif season, Dawn has learnt.
Irsa sources confirmed that Sindh had sent a protest letter, pointing out that it was faced with a 47 per cent water shortage compared with Punjab's 37 per cent. However, Irsa chairman Rahim Khan Zarkun and member NWFP Salim Aslam had taken a serious view of the situation and started taking remedial measures, these sources said.
Currently, there is no member in Irsa to represent Punjab, Sindh or the federal government as the government had not extended the contract period of the three members that expired last year.
The Irsa sources said earlier it was difficult for the authority to fill the gap between Sindh and Punjab because of low water level in the reservoirs and lower river flows. The river flows, however, have now improved owing to melting of snow and rising temperatures.
Steps are already being taken to reduce water shortage to Sindh, these sources said, adding that releases to Punjab had been reduced from Taunsa-Punjnad and Chashma-Jhelum canal stood closed for the last 10 days.
A senior Irsa official said the water releases to Punjab would be reduced further in the next 10 days and hoped that the gap between water releases to the two provinces will become equal.
The official said that about 10-15 per cent losses were now also being accounted for in Sindh's share. Irsa is distributing provincial water share on actual annual average-use basis. For the first time, it is dividing shortages into three stages to meet provincial crop requirements and also to ensure that 80 per cent of Mangla and Tarbela reservoirs were filled by the end of June.
The water shortages were initially 40 per cent when the Kharif season began but have now reduced to 13 per cent. There would be no shortage during mid-Kharif - between June 10 and August 30 - because of high temperatures.
The shortage would increase once again to 25 per cent in September. Distribution of water in case of shortages under para-2 of the accord favours Sindh while distribution on the basis of actual average annual uses of 1977-82 favours Punjab.
