June 28, 2008	Saturday	Jamadi-us-Sani 23, 1429

KARACHI, June 27: The Sindh Assembly on Friday was informed that the province was receiving 46 per cent less water than its requirement while around 609,072 acres in coastal district Thatta had been badly affected due to sea intrusion.

Responding to a question posed by opposition member Arif Mustafa Jatoi during the question hour, Sindh Minister for Irrigation and Power Jam Saifullah Dharejo informed the house that the advisory committee of the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) in its March 31 meeting had anticipated four per cent water shortage during the Kharif season (April 1 to September 30), however, the river flows were even lower as compared with the estimated situation.

The minister, however, hoped that the position could improve with the improvement in river flows.

Elaborating the measures taken by the department to meet the shortfall, the minister said that the annual closure of Guddu barrage canals and the right bank canals of the Sukkur barrage had been extended till May 10 instead of April 30 to provide maximum available water to the perennial canal system.

Besides, he added, preference had been given to the Nara and Rohri canals and other cotton growing areas of lower Sindh; rotation of channels had been imposed on all canal systems; 8,000 cusecs of water had been released from Sukkur barrage for Kotri barrage to allow water for drinking and seeding purposes.

He said that the Chashma-Jehlum link canal of Punjab had also been closed. He said that the main cause for this shortfall was a reduction in the flows of all the rivers of the Indus basin.

In response to Humera Alwani’s question regarding the problem of sea intrusion in Thatta district, the minister said that 31,491 acres in Ghorabari, 59,001 acres in Shah Bandar, 117,827 acres in Kharo Chhan, 60,180 acres in Mirpur Sakro, 226,670 acres in Jaati and 113,903 acres in Keti Bandar areas had been affected by sea intrusion.

Mr Dharejo said the consultants engaged with the federal government to study the minimum flow downstream Kotri barrage had prepared such reports and presented them in the Sindh Assembly during its January 2006 session.

Replying to a question by Arif Mustafa Jatoi, the minister said that the Sindh government had no intentions to take over the control of the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) or the the Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (Hesco).—PPI