KARACHI, Sept 9: The Sindh government on Tuesday admitted that there had been a shortage of water downstream Guddu Barrage since 1999.

Responding to a question by the leader of the opposition, Nisar Khuhro, the minister for irrigation, Pir Sadruddin Shah, informed the House that as per accord during 1999-2000, 33.94 MAF was allocated for Kharif season, but actual utilization was 31.72 MAF, reflecting a shortage of - 6.5 per cent.

For the Rabi crop during this period, the accord allocation was 14.82 MAF, but 12.25 MAF was actually utilized, showing a shortage of 17.3 per cent.

No accord allocation has been mentioned for Kharif and Rabi seasons during 2000-2002.

In 2000-2001, actual utilization was recorded at 25.55 MAF, representing a shortage of -24.7 per cent. During this period, actual utilization for Rabi seasons was 8.50 MAF, and the shortage was - 42.6 per cent. The biggest shortage in terms of percentage was in 2001-2002 for both the seasons.

According to the figures provided by the irrigation and power minister, actual utilization during Kharif in 2001-2002 was 24.47 MAF, and there was a shortage of - 27.9 per cent.

For Rabi season during the same period, actual utilization was 7.10 MAF, recording a shortage of -52.1 per cent.

Giving an year-wise breakup of acreage of crops affected due to shortage of water, the House was informed that for Rabi crop during 1997-1998 it was 17,500,333 hectares, 1,763,090 hectares during 1998-1999, 1,759,441 hectares in 1999-2000; 13,048,881 hectares during 2000-2001 and 1,327,052 hectares during 2001-2002. For Kharif season during the same period, it was 22,008,005 hectares, 2,358,367 hectares, 1,987,287 hectares, 1,834,363 hectares and 1,836,214 hectares, respectively.

Giving a break-up of the abiana collected during this period the provincial minister said there was a decrease in the demand for 2000-2001 in comparison with the year 1999-2000.

He said this was owing to water shortage and transfer of many dehs to the SIDA for the recovery of water dues.

The decline was also due to remission given by the provincial government.

While the minister was talking about water shortages, Humera Alvani of the PPP on a supplementary emphasized that when there was a shortage of water downstream Guddu and when 1991 accord was not being honoured, how the GTC would be built and accused the government of trying to wriggle out of its commitment against the construction of the GTC and Kalabagh dam.

Provincial minister Imtiaz Shaikh tried to refute this contention but the opposition stood up and made noises to prevent him from doing so.

This invited retaliation from the treasury benches who threatened not to allow the opposition members to speak if they were not allowed to express their views.

While Mr. Shaikh was still on his legs, the law minister and another treasury bench member Farhad Jatoi uttered something to him.

At the same time, Speaker Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah posed a question that if Mr. Shaikh wanted to give a statement under Rule 215, what would be the opposition’s attitude? As Mr. Shaikh tried to proceed, Abdullah Murad of the PPP stood up and protested. This resulted in an uproar and subsequent adjournment in proceedings for an hour by the Speaker.

When the proceedings resumed, Mr Shaikh, speaking under rule 215, asked the opposition to show tolerance and recalled the senior minister Syed Sardar Ahmed’s statement on the floor of the House on GTC issue. He also referred to the constitution of the committees by Gen Pervez Musharraf to deal with the water issue.

Syed Qaim Ali Shah objected and said that Mr Shaikh should have made a statement after the question hour.

Speaker Syed Muzzaffar Hussain said during 1985-96 ministers had been making statements under rule 215. If Mr. Shaikh is making a statement under that rule with the permission of the chair, and if the opposition has objections, it can also make a statement after him.

Mr. Imtiaz Shaikh said that opposition is afraid of our disclosures and asked who had made allocations for Kalabagh dam. This infuriated MMA’s Ehasanullah Hazarvi and once again there was an uproar in the House. Mr Shaikh alleged that the PPP government in 1994 had betrayed the Sindh cause. He said that the 1991 accord was finalized under the PML government.

Provincial minister Arbab Rahim, who tried to pacify the situation, was hooted by the opposition.

Nisar Khuhro criticized Imtiaz Shaikh’s statement about the constitution of committees on water issue and asked him to get a notification for the same.

He alleged that by misleading the people he was committing betrayal of the people of Sindh. This invited fresh agitation from the treasury benches.

In reply to a question by Dr Sikandar Ali Mandhro on whether the 1991 water accord was ratified by the CCI and according to Clause-3 of the agreement was there any water allocation for the Thal Canal.

The minister informed the House the accord was ratified by the CCI and its approved 10-daily table are part of the water accord 1991. There is a provision of 1.8877 MAF for GTC for Kharif season in these 10-dailies.

He also informed the questioner that the federal government had been approached to implement the resolution passed by the Sindh assembly. As it was the day minister for irrigation and power Dr Mandhro also asked him to inform the House about the normal present requirement of water for Rabi and Kharif seasons in Sindh in Guddu, Sukkur and Kotri barrages, along with the maximum water supply at the above mentioned placed during the last five years.

Pir Sadruddin Shah informed the House that as per 1991 water accord, a total of 9.51 MAF discharge was required at Guddu for both Rabi and Kharif seasons, whereas the figure at Sukkur was 28.22 MAF and 11.03 MAF at Kotri. This brings the total discharge to 48.76 MAF.

The House was also informed by the minister that principal objective of Chotiari reservoir was to increase cropping intensity and yields on about 324,000 acres in district Sanghar and Mirpurkhas, commanded by lower Nara Canal Makhi Farash canal. This will be achieved by storing 0.7 MAF of water.

To a question by Mohammad Yunus Khan of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement, who wanted to know collection figures of motor vehicle tax received in respect of Karachi division between 1999 and 2002, the minister for excise and taxation, Rauf Siddiqui, informed the House that a total of Rs 1955.009 million were collected during this period.

During 1999-2000, Rs 466.480 million were collected whereas the figure for 2000-2001 was Rs 7704.803 million.