KARACHI: Sindh Irrigation Minister Jam Khan Shoro on Monday said that the province was facing an acute shortage of water that had reached at 42 per cent as the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) was violating the 1991 Water accord.

He said IRSA was not implementing the Water Accord due to which a severe water shortage was bound to hit Sindh. “Irsa is depriving the province of its allocated share of water by giving reasons of an overall water scarcity in the system,” he lamented.

The minister said that Sindh was provided 22 per cent less water from its share as per Water Accord in April, 2021.

He condemned the role of Irsa in cutting down Sindh’s share in violation of the 1991 accord and said that thousands of acres of standing crops would be destroyed due to the crisis. “A crisis of drinking water will also emerge in Karachi and other cities of the province,” he said, adding that Irsa should immediately provide due share of water to the province enabling it to overcome the crisis.

Published in Dawn,May 3rd, 2022