March, 15 2005	Tuesday	04 Safar 1426

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ISLAMABAD, March 14: The Indus River System Authority (Irsa) has convened an emergency meeting here on Tuesday to consider Wapda’s decision not to fill the Mangla Dam beyond 1,125ft owing to technical constraints related to construction work.

Representatives of the provincial irrigation departments, the Water and Power development Authority, the chief engineering advisor and the ministry of water and power will attend the meeting, to be presided over by Irsa Chairman Aman Gul Khattak.

Wapda had informed Irsa that it could not fill the dam to more than 1,125ft until May because of construction for raising its height, sources said. The capacity of the dam is 1,212ft. They said Wapda had started releasing 60,000 cusecs per day from the dam against the provincial demands of 20,000 cusecs per day.

In view of the decision, Irsa recently wrote to the Punjab and Sindh irrigation departments that additional water release from Mangla would be deducted from their Kharif share.

Sources in the Sindh irrigation department said the province had opposed the decision on the ground that the additional water would go into the sea even if it was not utilized.

The Sindh authorities were insisting that the province’s Kharif share should not be affected by the additional release necessitated by technical constraints, they said. They said Irsa’s technical committee was expected to meet on March 25 to finalize the water management plan for the Kharif season.

The provinces will submit their Kharif water requirement plans to Irsa on Tuesday.

It is for the first time after about eight years that the Kharif season will start with water availability of more than two million acre-feet because of higher rainfall in recent months.