HYDERABAD: The projected 40 per cent shortfall in water flows for ongoing Kharif season is bound to have serious impact on crops and make growers of Sindh to suffer more in economic terms.

The growers believe that after cut in water flows Sindh will receive hardly 3,500 cusec from Taunsa-Panjnad link canal which has a discharge of around 7,000 cusec and projected 40 per cent shortfall can be calculated at between 45,000 to 46,000 cusec in Sindh in view of dip being experienced in the system.

The Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB) president Abdul Majeed Nizamani said that in actual terms, Sindh would get relief of just 3,500 cusec, which had been cut from Taunsa-Panjnad link canal.

He maintained that 40 per cent shortfall in Sindh spelt very serious consequences in view of losses suffered by growers in the outgoing season especially in paddy and sugarcane.

‘Cotton has now entered harvesting stage. Nurseries have just started to be prepared in upper Sindh after opening of Rice Canal under a court directive. So, it’s a big issue as far as the production of cash crops is concerned,’ he said.

He blamed Wapda and Irsa authorities for failing to judge likely impacts of abnormal shortfall in the system. ‘The Sindh government has acted very belatedly to contain the situation,’ said Mehmood Nawaz Shah, general secretary of SAB.

He said that flood canals like Taunsa-Panjnad and Chashma-Jehlum and Chashma Right Bank Canal could not be operated without permission of Sindh government, which should have raised its voice at least between June 12 and 15.

If Sindh had raised the issue at the right time and got the canals that diverted water from the Indus in Punjab closed the situation would have been quite different and water shortfall would not have been beyond 10 per cent.

‘Now we fear Punjab will not only use additional releases from Mangla dam but it will also not close its link canals as has been seen historically,’ he remarked.

The water that is to be released to the Punjab from Mangla dam will take considerable time and in the meantime the link canals will not be closed, which means a deficit of around 45,000 cusec for Sindh.

The agriculturalists consider behaviour of the River Indus as abnormal and stress the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) and Wapda should have taken notice when Sukkur Barrage downstream inflow was recorded at around 22,000 cusec at the end of March or early April.

Wapda should have anticipated that there could be a dip in the entire system and should have worked out its plans during that period, he said.

According to SAB general secretary, the indent of Sindh for the first 10 days will be 170,000 cusec but it has started experiencing the dip, reducing its flow to 100,000 cusec at the Guddu Barrage upstream.

‘The fact that we had abnormal availability of water in the river is not a new phenomenon historically and the Sindh government should have put its house in order at that time to effectively respond to the situation.

‘Only then it would have been able at least to get half of flood canals closed,’ he pointed out.

He said that it reflected that in fact it was this province, which was bearing overall shortfall in the system notwithstanding the fact that sowing season in Sindh was at its peak whereas there was still some time before started in the Punjab.

‘In fact overall 40 per cent water shortage means there will be a 60 to 70 per cent shortfall as far as crop cultivation is concerned because even during normal supply of water around eight to 10 per cent of shortfall is always reported, so, we will have to face the brunt of 60 to 70 per cent of shortage,’ he said.

Paddy-sowing has been completed in lower Sindh and in upper part of the province where the crop is dependent on Rice Canal that has been allowed to open under court orders, work on preparation of nurseries have already started.

Paddy growers are already groaning thanks to the crisis that had hit the crop during last season due to abnormal rains and Pakistan Agriculture Storage and Supplies Corporation (Passco). The corporation multiplied their miseries when it delayed procurement of the crop.

The then Sindh government announced the Passco would purchase the rain-damaged crop but the growers did not receive any encouraging response.

The SAB estimated 39 per cent shortage in sugarcane production in the outgoing season when the sugar mills did not pay them the actual amount and forced them to switch to other crops for better returns.

The growers did get some relief in shape of an attractive support price of wheat. The Sindh government is reported to have set a target of 650,000 hectares – around 1.7 to 1.8 million acres – for current year and nurseries of paddy are ready to be sown in Sindh.

Besides, there is an area of 52,000 acres meant for chillies cultivation while cultivation of sugarcane – a high delta crop - is altogether a separate issue.