HYDERABAD, May 29: Kotri Barrage chief engineer Manzoor Ahmad Shaikh has said the telemetry system installed at the barrage is showing wrong figures of water discharge at the barrage and its off-taking canals. Talking to journalists at the barrage here on Sunday, he said the Indus River System Authority had been informed about it.

He said he had written letters to Irsa which was appointing independent engineers to check the system and rectify the errors.

He said major errors in data could not be accepted. “It has been noted at times that the telemetry system shows discharge of 2,000 cusecs of water downstream though all gates of barrages are closed,” he said. “A member of Irsa from Islamabad has visited the barrage and verified this point physically”, he further said.

The official said the telemetry system had been installed to remove water-related controversy among the provinces.

He showed the telemetry system to journalists to support his point and said even today while downstream discharge was recorded at 14,600 cusecs of water, the system was showing it 13,234 cusecs. Likewise, he said, reading of gauge of the Kalri Baghar Feeder was quite different.

“The system has not been handed over to the irrigation department but it is a major stakeholder in water monitoring. The system has to be corrected to ensure availability of correct data”, he said.

He asserted that presently the Kotri Barrage was getting water more than what was envisaged in the water accord as its share. “My only worries are about those days when water is not available and discharge of every drop of water is to be recorded correctly”, the official said.

Mr Shaikh said if barrage officials wanted to check the previous record of the telemetry system it could not be done. “The matter has been taken up properly with Irsa and we are hopeful that it will be rectified because even President Gen Pervez Musharraf has expressed his displeasure over working of the system”, he claimed.

About water discharges, he said at least 5,000 cusecs of water was being discharged Kotri downstream and irrigation officials wanted to continue this so that a link between sea and river could be established.

Quoting water analysis reports, he expressed satisfaction over the quality of water and said gates of the Aral Wah were being operated at a height where they had initially been opened on May 6. “Any change in raising the height of the gates would be made after consultation and when water discharge at Sukkur downstream was 50,000 to 55,000 cusecs,” he said.