HYDERABAD, May 18: The perennial water shortage which has plagued Sindh’s agriculture sector for decades and was briefly pushed into the background by election hullabaloo is making itself felt again and staring the government-elect in the face.

The shortage caused by a variety of reasons has already jeopardised sowing of summer crops in the province.

Farmers begin sowing Kharif crops usually in April but there are several areas on the left bank areas of the Indus river which have early sowing patterns and these are to be fed through the Kotri barrage.

Farmers have been demanding for years that they should be supplied water for early Kharif crops but the demand has never been met. Instead, it has been noticed for the past several years that water supplies suffer serious hiccups in the early and peak of Kharif season to the great annoyance of farmers.The Kotri barrage’s command area needs water in April to irrigate early sown crops but growers are usually seen crying for water even during the peak of the Kharif season.

Besides mismanagement of water by the Indus River System Authority which was a major cause for water shortage in Sindh, the intra-province distribution of water also contributes to the problem.

In the areas located on the left bank of the river, growers are quick to blame the Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority for the shortages as the authority regulates canals on the left bank.Half of May, a crucial time for sowing of Kharif crops, has already passed with water shortages hovering around 30 per cent upstream river. The Kotri barrage is experiencing almost 55 per cent shortage as on May 14. It is the time when the right bank canals fed by the Sukkur barrage also draw water to irrigate rice paddies.

“Now, we have to open the Rice Canal — on the right side of Sukkur barrage — by May 20 as per last year’s decision by the high court for nurseries of rice crop,” said an official at the Sukkur barrage.

Water distribution between provinces is worked out on a ten-day basis i.e. requirement of each canal at the barrages of any province in the first ten days of a given month.

But a plain reading of the second ten-daily requirement shows that Kotri barrage, which has to supply water for early Kharif crops till May 30, was receiving 8,550 cusecs as on May 14 against 15,700 cusecs as per the second ten-daily share.

“If the situation didn’t improve in the Indus river system, water shortage will be around 60 per cent in the Kharif season at the Kotri barrage,” said an official.

A quantum of 64,140 cusecs is required at Guddu upstream in May’s second ten-daily which is not there. The availability of 64,140 cusecs can only be ensured provided 25 per cent of water losses and water releases from the Chashma barrage are included in it.

The Guddu barrage recorded an inflow of 51,440 cusecs as on May 14 against 64,140 cusecs requirement, including the barrage’s own allocation of 7,740 cusecs for its canals.

Since its canals are closed for the time being, entire flow is released for upstream Sukkur. According to barrage official, a dip in flows was reported at the Chashma barrage on May 11 where indents for Sindh’s water supplies are submitted.

Until May 11, Chashma was releasing 75,000 cusecs downstream for Taunsa barrage and 55,000 cusecs were released post-Taunsa for Guddu upstream.

“But in post-dip supplies Taunsa released 46,000 cusecs on May 12. This dip is yet to pass through Sindh’s barrages. That’s why water shortage at Kotri barrage is assessed at 60 per cent in the third ten-daily of May,” he said.

Water losses are always calculated when water is released from Chashma barrage and reaches Taunsa. Then it arrives at Guddu and flows further downstream Sukkur or Kotri barrages.

He informed that 46,000 cusecs released on May 12 from Taunsa had not yet reached Guddu but when it would reach the barrage it would be inclusive of water losses. And these losses would materialise into water shortage for the rest two barrages, he said.

Early sowing of rice in the command area of the Kotri barrage is badly affected, so are crops of cotton grown on the left bank of the Sukkur barrage and rice cultivated on its right bank. Canals fed by the Guddu barrage irrigate paddy fields in upper Sindh areas.

“I can see that shortage is going to be around 60 per cent when Kharif season proceeds further in Kotri barrage area. There was little water in April but as time passes it will become difficult for us. Among other factors, the shortage is also caused by mismanagement on part of Sida,” said Abdul Majeed Nizamani, president of Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB).

He said the Chashma-Jehlum link canal was still open and drawing 5,000 cusecs under a controversial Irsa decision. “It is again at our [Sindh’s] cost,” he remarked, adding that Irsa released water from Tarbela for power generation which was absolutely wrong because the dam was meant to meet needs of agriculture first.

The operation of the CJ link canal has remained a bone of contention between Sindh and Punjab. A couple of years back, Punjab ministers had arrived in Sindh to assure then Sindh chief minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah that the province would be supplied water for early Kharif crops.

Sindh argues that CJ link canal is a flood canal which is to be operated only during flood season when there is surplus water in the river and that too after meeting requirements of all canals in Sindh. The growers’ representatives contend that Punjab opens the CJ at will without caring for lower riparians.

“Sindh government was assured by a few Punjab ministers that water will be supplied for early Kharif but the commitment has not been honoured since. We usually see that dams are filled in every Kharif season when we need water or it is diverted for electricity generation with Irsa’s nod although it is not the mandate of Irsa,” said Mehmood Nawaz Shah, SAB general secretary.

He said that Sindh’s farmers needed water now because sowing of Kharif crops had started and temperatures were rising as well. “If adequate water is not supplied then sowing of corps on the left bank areas like cotton, rice and sugarcane will be badly affected,” he said.