HYDERABAD: Describing the construction of ‘six strategic canals’ over Indus River in Punjab as controversial as previous ones, the Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB) has rejected the project.

The plan was opposed at a meeting of the board held here on Sunday under the chairmanship of SAB President Mahmood Nawaz Shah, attended by growers of different districts of Sindh.

It observed that the three so-called canals to be constructed on Indus River on a fast-tract basis were like that of Jalalpur and other ones.

It discussed the subject after talking with experts in the field. It seemed as if project were being pushed through

Announces to start protest against project from 24th

without proper due diligence which included feasibility, availability of water, provinces’ approvals, environmental studies etc, it said.

The meeting observed that out of those canals, the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) had given approval for Phase-I of Cholistan canal. There was apparently a Phase-II and in order to irrigate Cholistan desert, 176km canal at a cost of Rs220bn was proposed, which included enhancing capacity of link canals to bring water to Sulemanki (headworks) from where Cholistan canal would be built. The phase I and II of the canal would irrigate 1.2m acres of desert land, it observed.

The SAB said it seemed as if the water availability certificate given by the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) lacked credibility and the project was approved without proper due diligence. The certificate of water availability from April to September was issued on the assumption of floods and if there were no floods, the province would have to adjust/reduce supply from other irrigated areas.

It said that while issuing the certificate, Irsa did not consider many aspects, including perpetual shortage of water from March to May in Sindh and surplus water if it became surplus in few years.

It said Irsa ignored that delayed rising of temperature in the catchment areas or climatic change, which perpetuated droughts, was already affecting delta and lower riparian. Irsa also did not take into account that water quality of aquifer was depleting as water in the river had reduced over a period of time, it added.

It said Irsa also did not consider that the link canals constructed in the past on the assumption of floods had created a permanent demand of water, thus affecting agriculture and population downstream.

The meeting noted that PC-I says that Cholistan canal would run for the whole year (perennial) whereas the controversial Irsa certificate was only for six months (April to Sept). How water would be made available for Cholistan canal without depriving the lower riparian of water in the rest of the months, it questioned.

The SAB said the project clearly depended on floodwater and water reduced/adjusted from other canals to provide flows to Cholistan canals. Therefore, it was important to mention Jalalpur canal that was another sizable and controversial canal that was already under construction, taking off from Rasul Barrage with the same assumptions. It would reduce water as link canals taking water to Cholistan canal were also taking off from Rasul Barrage. Hence, the existing command/ irrigated area of the barrage would be deprived of water, it added.

That all led to the point that the existing canal capacity in Punjab was much more than the water allocated in the water accord, it said. The six strategic canals, therefore, were only a figment of someone’s imagination, which was tantamount to destroying the whole irrigation system and it would affect lower riparian the most, the meeting warned.

It said the SAB, therefore, was deeply concerned that the canals which were based on floods for water availability and the botched data would eventually lead to reduction in the river water and therefore, they were not good for the country and were unacceptable for people at large.

It said that despite reservations from Sindh and other stakeholders, there seemed to be unwarranted haste in going forward with the project.

The SAB after detailed deliberations decided to start a campaign with other grower organisations against the project from Nov 24 in front of the local press club.

Prominent among others attending the meeting were Dr Bashir Nizamani,

Dr Zulfiqar Yousfani, Sarfraz Junejo, Imran Bozdar, Mohammad Taha, Omer Bhughio, Mustafa Nawaz Shah and Murad Ali Shah.

Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2024