ISLAMABAD, Dec 4: The Indus River System Authority (Irsa) has rejected Punjab’s claim of exclusive rights over Mangla Dam water after raise in its height by 40 feet.

Official sources said all the three provinces, particularly Sindh, had strongly objected to the Punjab government’s claim to reserve whole storage capacity of Mangla Dam for utilization in Punjab after its raising.

The government has launched Rs53 billion project for raising of the Mangla Dam height by 40 feet. This replacement project is to reclaim country’s storage capacity by 3.5 million acre feet (maf) which has so far been lost due to silting and sedimentation.

Around two months back, the Punjab irrigation secretary had written to the Irsa that the whole Mangla Dam should be reserved for the exclusive use of Punjab after its increase in height. He had contended that since Mangla Dam water was being used in Punjab, only Indus river should be treated as a common water sharing pool and Mangla be kept separate from the pool.

Sources said Irsa faced strong opposition from the remaining three provinces and then rejected the Punjab government’s claim. They said notwithstanding Mangla water being exclusively utilised in Punjab, it could not be separated from the common sharing pool.

They further said Irsa held Mangla as part and parcel of Indus river management system which had to be shared on a cumulative basis by all the four provinces under the Water Accord of 1991.

The Punjab government has been informed that all western rivers — Indus, Jhelum and Chenab — were part of the Indus system that also comprised five barrages and eight link canals. The whole 114maf water in three rivers, the sources said, had to be shared by the four provinces according to apportionment agreed to under the 1991 accord.

Due to excessive sedimentation inflows in the river water, all the three storages — Tarbela, Mangla and Chashma — have lost around 30 per cent of their storage capacity.