09 June 2004	Wednesday	20 Rabi-us-Saani 1425

LAHORE, June 8: Punjab on Tuesday rejected 6,000 cusecs cut in its water share by the Indus River System Authority. In a letter to the federal government, it sought 'immediate intervention' to avoid a possible law and order situation in the province.

According to Punjab Irrigation Minister Aamir Sultan Cheema, Irsa has unilaterally reduced Punjab's water share by 6,000 cusecs from the Indus during the first week of June. "This is unacceptable to the province because of its economic and social cost," he said.

On the direction of the minister, the department has sent a letter to Irsa which states: "The mode of regulation of Punjab Indus zone and Jhelum-Chenab zone canals as adopted by Irsa is also not agreeable.

The Jhelum and Chenab river supplies are totally committed to the Mangla command canals under the provisions of Indus Water Treaty. These are replacement supplies and cannot be shared with the Indus zone canals.

As such the available supplies in the Indus and Kabul rivers, including Tarbela storage, may be distributed for the Punjab Indus zone canals (Thal, Taunsa, Trimmu, Panjnad and Lower Sutlej valley canals) as well as NWFP, Sindh and Balochistan canals."

It said the reported transit losses in the Indus River in the Taunsa-Kotri reach were exceptionally high and seemed to be exaggerated. The actual losses could not be more than 17 to 20 per cent against 43 per cent adopted in the distributional calculations, it said and added that it needed immediate investigation through an independent agency like Wapda or the army. Copies of the letter have also been dispatched to Water and Power Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao and the convener of the water review committee.