LAHORE: The Punjab Irrigation Department has made a fivefold increase in water rates (abiana) and has also imposed the levy at different rates for different crops from the ongoing Rabi season, causing a wave of concern among the farmers.

A notification issued by the irrigation secretary on Dec 5 (Wednesday) says the water rates have been revised by the governor under section 49 and 136 of the Punjab Irrigation, Drainage and Rivers Act, 2023 and in suppression of Notification No (SO (Rev) PR/12-70/21(All-CSs)-878 of April 4, 2023.

According to the revised water rate schedule, rice growers will have to pay the highest rate of Rs2,000 per acre followed by Rs1,600 per acre by sugarcane growers and vegetable and maize cultivators will pay Rs1,200 per acre.

Cotton and orchard growers will pay Rs1,000 per acre, while cultivators of wheat, pulses, fodder, and oil seeds will have to pay Rs400 per acre. The lower water rate of Rs200 per acre has been charged to gram cultivators.

Move aims at meeting maintenance cost of irrigation infrastructure

The notification adds that the additional water rate for sanctioned garden supplies has been fixed at Rs2,000 per acre and for state-owned lift irrigation Rs2,250 per acre.

Crop and season-wise water rate was in practice from the Mughal era until a flat water rate was introduced by the then Punjab government in 2003.

A flat rate of Rs50 per acre had been imposed for Rabi crops and Rs85 per acre for Kharif crops, while orchard owners were to pay Rs250 per acre.

However, the rates were revised upward in the year 2021: Rs400 per acre per year for low water allowance soils and Rs550 for high water allowance soils.

A senior official of the irrigation department requesting not to be named said that the total per annum revenue generation through water rate was around Rs4.4 billion, a fraction of the over Rs25bn per year maintenance cost of the irrigation infrastructure in the province.

He believes that if fully recovered the new system of water rate will meet at least maintenance cost of infrastructure.

However, it will require twice a year updating girdawari, crop inspection register, wherein entry of every crop cultivated in every Khasra number (per acre) is made after spot visit by the Patwari in presence of Lambardar (village headman) and other interested persons.

But, the field staff (Patwaris) of the irrigation department has not updated girdawari for the last many years.

The report of revised water rate under crop-wise system has caused concern among the farming community.

Minhaj Hotiana from Pakpattan says a farmer has 18 minutes per acre irrigation time in a week irrespective of the crop and one fails to comprehend how the department will ensure the supply of additional water for rice and sugarcane growers, who will have to pay a higher rate of abiana for their crops being water-intensive.

“If they want to increase crop-wise abiana rate, then the irrigation department should provide additional water to rice growers and ensure availability of the commodity at tail-ends of the water distribution system.”

An irrigation official, however, clarifies that the water rate does not mean just for the supply of canal water; rather it includes subsoil water extracted for irrigation purposes. “The higher water rate for rice, sugarcane and maize, etc means that the user (grower whether owner or tenant) will have to pay even for the subsoil water he is extracting for water-intensive crops,” he adds.

Published in Dawn, December 7th, 2023