Irsa refuses to close Taunsa for 10 weeks: Water-shortage sharing
By Our Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD, Oct 4: The Indus River System Authority (Irsa) on Tuesday rejected Sindh’s demand for distribution of water shortages in Rabi season under paragraph two of the 1991 water apportionment accord and deferred a decision on closure of Taunsa barrage for 10 weeks.
These decisions were taken at a meeting of Irsa’s advisory committee which was presided over by chairman Aman Gul Khattak and attended by provincial officials of irrigation and agriculture departments and Wapda.
Sindh’s irrigation department demanded during the advisory committee meeting that an anticipated 17 per cent water shortage should be applied also to Balochistan and the NWFP and distribution among the provinces should be on the basis of para-2 of the 1991 accord. Both these demands were rejected by the committee which decided to make provincial water allocations on the basis of historical annual average uses of 1977-82.
Irsa spokesman Khalid Rana, however, said the distribution of water shortages has been made keeping in view the spirit of para-2, 4 and 14-B of the 1991 water accord and there was no violation of the accord in this regard. The provinces were also assured that the water situation would be reviewed as and when required according to prevailing conditions.
The government of Punjab asked the committee to allow closure of Taunsa barrage for 10 weeks during the peak season of December-January for repair works. The committee showed its reservations over the demand and asked for a comprehensive briefing on the subject within two weeks for a formal decision.
The irrigation departments of Balochistan and Sindh demanded that repair work of Taunsa should be done during the off-peak season on a fast-track basis like the Sukkur barrage repair work was completed last year by the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) without the routine watering schedule being affected.
The committee formally approved about 17 per cent water shortage during Rabi 2005-06 with anticipated water availability at 30.642 MAF. This figure was arrived at on the basis of 10.598 MAF of carry-over storage, 21.818 MAF water availability at rim stations and estimated system losses of 1.77 MAF.
As such, a share of 16.540 MAF of water was allocated to Punjab, 12.379 MAF to Sindh, 0.701 MAF to NWFP and 1.022 MAF to Balochistan.
The committee also reviewed water availability and utilization during Kharif 2005 and showed satisfaction over the implementation of its allocations.
