HYDERABAD: While Sindh’s summary remained pending in the Council of Common Interests (CCI) for a decision on Jalalpur Canal, a new channel in Punjab, the canal has undergone a test run by the Punjab government considering water availability certificate (WAC) issued by the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) 12 years ago in Sept 2014.

“Irsa issued the WAC for [Jalalpur] canal so how can Irsa object to its operation?”, answered Irsa’s Secretary Khalid Idrees Rana in response to a question sent on his Whatsapp on Sunday. Asked if Irsa has been duly informed about its operation, he said that “we are not concerned about this after issuance of the WAC”. He also mentioned that any further queries may be directed at the Punjab irrigation department or the CCI’s secretariat.

Jalalpur Canal is one of those water projects which were questioned by Sindh before the CCI. A decision by the CCI remained pending on it to date. The Sindh government’s summary on this particular canal was sent in April 2024.

The CCI’s last decision, of note, came last year when in its April 28, 2025 meeting, the CCI decided that “the project should not proceed until mutual understanding among provinces was achieved to shelve in a bid to settle the controversy surrounding new canals proposed on the Indus River”.

Process begun using 12-year-old Irsa certificate

This CCI’s meeting had to be convened by Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif in the wake of blockade of the National Highway near Khairpur in Sindh by lawyers as a mark of resentment against six new canals – mainly the Smaller Cholistan Project to be fed through Cholistan Canal.

The April 28 meeting’s announcement from the Prime Minister Office (PMO) had also said that “To allay the concerns of all provinces and to ensure Pakistan’s food and ecological security, a committee is being formed with representation from the federation and all provinces,” the meeting decided.

The committee would propose solutions to Pakistan’s long-term agriculture needs and water use of all provinces in line with the two consensus documents (Water Apportionment Accord 1991 and Water Policy 2018), the meeting agreed.

However, it appeared that no progress or meeting of this Technical Committee was held. Even officers in the Sindh irrigation department and ruling PPP’s provincial leaders like Nisar Khuhro remained unaware about it. He expressed his unawareness about this committee’s formation, when asked at a recent presser addressed by him in Hyderabad.

Insofar as the Jalalpur Canal project was concerned, it was a non-perennial canal system — as reflected in Sindh’s summary for the CCI and covered by the Sindh’s outgoing member in Irsa, Mohammad Ehsan Leghari, in his article for a Sindhi newspaper on Sunday.

Punjab has recently conducted a test run of the canal, which has been shared on social media. The 117.5-km-long canal, funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in 2017 in the PML-N regime, takes off from Rasul Barrage on its right bank downstream Mangla dam with 1,350 cusecs capacity to irrigate tehsils of Jhelum, Pind Dadan Khan of Jhelum and tehsil Khushab of Khushab districts.

The canal was to irrigate 168,684 acres of rain-fed area to bring them under irrigated agriculture. The water allowance for design of irrigation system has been adopted as 6.75cfs/1000 acres which according to summary was 2.5 times more than the allowance of canals in Sindh i.e, 2.75cfs/1000 acres. “Construction of Jalalpur Canal will affect the cultivation on approximately 490,000 acres in Sindh,” read the summary.

The Sindh government had conveyed its reservations to the Federal Ministry of Planning and Development & Special Initiatives and the Federal Ministry of Water Resources regarding the canal’s construction on Nov 11, 2021.

The WAC – as referred by the Irsa secretary – mentioned 0.410 MAF water requirements for the canal out of which 0.156MAF would be met from flood flows as per para-4 of the Water Apportionment Accord 1991 and 0.254 MAF as per adjustment of provincial share (within Punjab’s system) under para-2 of the water accord.

It was contended by the Sindh government that Punjab’s share in the accord was allocated to the existing canal system with maximum utilisation of 37.7MAF in 2007 against allocation of 37.07MAF. “It establishes the fact that the existing canal capacity of Punjab is more than its water allocation,” said the summary.

The CCI was told that project’s PC-I was also silent on 10 daily water requirements (under which provinces get their accord-based shares for their canals) of the project and source of water supply for this project. It was also unclear that water of which existing canal system (of Punjab) would be reduced for this canal.

Such project creates apprehension for pilferage and misreporting in allocated withdrawals upstream Sindh. The CCI was informed that the Sindh Assembly passed a resolution against the canal on Nov 22, 2021, demanding immediate stopping of the process and construction of the project.

Sindh Secretary Irrigation Zarif Khero was not available to answer on Sunday whether the CCI has approved it or otherwise.

Sindh United Party president Syed Zain Shah termed the canal as unauthorised. He said the Sindh governemnt was not taking up the matter beyond rhetoric that it has sent a letter to the CCI. Zain said that canal has been lined that showed considerable expenditures and added that the SUP would certainly take up the matter.

Published in Dawn, July 20th, 2026