SINDH Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah — who also holds the portfolio of the irrigation department — made a rare admission during his recent visit to rural Sindh when he said mismanagement and water theft are causing water shortage at the tail-end of the canal system in the kharif season.

Despite having a network of irrigation system, the Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority (whose performance is zero), was thrust over the province, he lamented. However, he forgot to mention how direct outlets from the canals sanctioned for influential people not only contribute to water shortage, but also distort the entire water distribution regime.

Tail-end growers in the lower Sindh region complain about water shortage during the early kharif season. Many reasons are cited for this chronic problem, like no water supply from the Mangla reservoir to the province in spite of the need for early sowing in April, as well as lifting of river water in the katcha area, mismanagement, high-handedness of upstream users, and direct outlets (DOs) that draw maximum water in any given area at the cost of lower riparian growers.

When direct outlets are operated, water flows from the canals get disturbed, and lower riparian farmers get inadequate or no water

The DOs are a source of irrigation water like a normal watercourse or outlet that emanates from any canal system. The basic difference between them is that whilst a regular

watercourse provides water to multiple growers, the DO irrigates lands of an individual or family only.

There are different kinds of DOs, including open pipe and adjustable proportionate module (APM), and pipes that draw water from the main canal that takes off from three barrages or a branch canal. No DO is sanctioned from a distributory (or minor), as they have inadequate flows to meet irrigational requirements of applicants.

But when DOs are operated, water flows from the canal get disturbed, and lower riparian farmers get inadequate or no water flows. They also cause defects in gradients or contours of the canals, and are exempted from the rotation programme to offset water shortage. Under the existing policy, DOs are sanctioned by the province’s chief executive, relaxing the ban on DOs.

An applicant for a DO argues that he does not get water from the present irrigation system and is unable to shift his land to any other command area. This contention needs to be proved, but is overlooked on political consideration. As per procedure, the CM seeks a report on such applications from the irrigation department’s officers at the division and sub-division levels.

A summary/report is prepared by an executive engineer for the CM. Such a report is supposed to present the impact of the proposed DO on the command area of a particular canal. But the reports, according to some retired irrigation secretaries, present an incorrect picture to favour the applicants. Even if a factual report is filed, in which irrigation officials disagree with the proposed approval of a DO, their objections are overruled by the competent authority.

No doubt a set of conditions are routinely attached to such sanctions, but these are hardly complied with. The conditions include that the granting of a DO will not lead to shortage of water at the tail-end of the canal, and that the module would not be tempered with and the applicant would cultivate only 27pc of the land in the kharif season.

“I cancelled 105 DOs which didn’t fulfill the mandatory conditions,” says former irrigation secretary Idris Rajput. According to him, all conditions are to be met by the applicants, but no one checks it for political expediency. The design of the module is tampered with to ensure 100pc cultivation of the applicant’s land during kharif, instead of the mandated 27pc. “The purpose of attaching conditions to the DO is to protect the rights of the tail-end growers.”

The DOs are also seen as political bribe to win electoral support of influential people in rural areas. The beneficiaries include parliamentarians, ministers, bureaucrats and police high-ups.

Former irrigation secretary Khalid Hyder Memon terms the DOs ‘cancer,’ saying they have caused serious damage to Sindh’s irrigation system. “Given today’s water situation, the idea of DOs should be given a second thought now.”

Officials point out that the DOs change the velocity of water flows and the situation gets aggravated in systems that are considered deficient, like the Naseer division of the Sukkur barrage. Meanwhile, DOs are now used for orchards, which was never seen in the past. A veteran grower like Abdul Majeed Nizamani of the Sindh Abadgar Board recalls that when the government used to go by the book, the concept of the DO simply did not exist. With DOs, the upkeep of the system has been compromised.

It is only after the 2010 super floods, which had the ravaged irrigation network, that a multi-billion scheme for river dykes was implemented. But canals, branches and distributaries still need major improvement works for efficient and judicious water use.

Published in Dawn, Aug 4th, 2014