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| June 27, 2005 | Monday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 19, 1426 |
Irsa accuses Wapda of ignoring regulations
ISLAMABAD, June 26: Amid the high flood situation in the river Kabul, the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) has complained to the federal government that Wapda was not following its water regulations, it is learnt.
Official sources told Dawn on Sunday that Irsa had written more than three letters in the last three days to the ministry of water and power to ask Wapda to abide by Irsa’s indents in letter and spirit.
The sources said that Irsa had allowed release of 20,000 cusecs of water from the Mangla dam but Wapda was releasing 26,000 cusecs per day to generate larger quantities of hydel power.
However, the power breakdowns and tripping take place throughout the day owing to an outdated transmission system and hot weather conditions. The Wapda transmission system has been badly exposed to the hot weather despite heavy investments in the last three years, a power ministry official said.
Source in the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) said there was no shortage of power in the country but breakdowns were taking place owing to rising temperatures. They said the current power generation was about 11,462-mw and was in keeping with the demand.
The Water and Power Ministry sources said the high flood situation in the river Kabul was expected to subside in the next 36 hours owing to decline in temperatures in Skardu and other snow areas.
The temperature has already declined to 32 degree Celsius from 33 degree Celsius a day before and is expected to come down further in the next two days as a result of rains and thunderstorm on Sunday evening.
The sources said it was for the first time since 1968-69 that such a high flood situation had been witnessed in the river Kabul. On Sunday, about 135,200 cusecs of water was flowing in the river Kabul against 143,000 cusecs in 1968-69. In the 1992 floods, the flows in the river stood at 100,000.
The sources said the low flood situation was prevailing in the river Indus as its flows stood at 316,000 cusecs on Sunday, much below the high flood level of 375,000 cusecs.
The water level at Tarbela dam stood at 1474 feet on Sunday and it was filling by about seven feet every day owing to high flows in the river and was likely to reach its maximum level of 1550 feet in about two weeks.
Flows at 76,000 cusecs in the river Jhelum were normal and there was no flood situation there. The water level at Mangla dam stood at 1173.15 feet on Sunday against its maximum level of 1212 feet.
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