ISLAMABAD, Dec 29: An inter-provincial meeting here on Wednesday decided to release 1,500 cusecs of water per day from the Tarbela dam out of Sindh's share for generating 475mw additional power to avoid load shedding in the country.

About 91,000 acres feet of water so discharged from the dam in more than 45 days would be stored at the Chashma barrage and would be provided to Sindh as per its indent in February.

The meeting was presided over by Water and Power Minister Liaquat Ali Jatoi and attended by the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) chairman, provincial irrigation secretaries, member Wapda (power) and chief executives of distribution companies and the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC).

The issue was earlier discussed at a meeting presided over by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, who is reported to have taken strong notice of Wapda's load shedding plan. "With the latest decision, there would be no load shedding in the country, including Karachi, as the KESC also would get 350mw electricity from the Wapda system," Mr Jatoi said after the meeting.

The decision about the discharge of water from Tarbela has been conveyed by the Irsa chairman to the relevant authorities. The minister said Wapda had been directed to withdraw its letter of Dec 24 issued to distribution companies in which it had announced its load shedding plan. "The load shedding plan issued by Wapda had not been approved by the government," he said.

Mr Jatoi said an inquiry had also been ordered to determine who had issued orders about load shedding without prior approval of the federal government, despite standing orders of the president and the prime minister against taking such an extreme step.

An official said the minister had directed the water and power secretary and Wapda's member power to suspend either the general manager or the chief engineer (operations) of Wapda for issuing such a letter to distribution companies. The Wapda member informed the meeting that he was on a foreign visit and was not informed about the load shedding plan.

Mr Jatoi said it was a positive gesture by the Sindh authorities to propose release of water from the province's share which would help to avert an otherwise certain load shedding.

He said Wapda authorities had projected a shortfall of 276mw of electricity, but the release from Tarbela would convert this shortfall into a surplus of 160mw energy after providing 40mw of additional supplies to the KESC.

The minister said a couple of thermal plants of Wapda which were out of order a day earlier had also become operational. Three power generation units in Quetta, Lahore and Faisalabad were still non-functional because of gas shortage, he said and added that he would take up the matter with the petroleum minister.

He said it was not in the national interest to carry out load shedding in the country as commercial and industrial activities could not be allowed to come to a halt because of power shortage.

Mr Jatoi said generation companies and private power producers had been asked to carry out maintenance and repair work in such a manner that it did not cause power shortage in the country. He said the current demand and availability of power generating capacity equalled at 10,060mw.