KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minis­ter Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that Wapda’s proposal for storage of water in Mangla Dam instead of Tarbela Dam may be accepted if certain terms and conditions are fulfilled.

He was chairing a meeting at CM House on Friday which was attended by Irrigation Minister Syed Nasir Shah, CM’s Special Assistant on Irrigation Ashfaq Memon, principal secretary Sajid Jamal Abro, irrigation secretary Jamal Shah and special irrigation secretary Aslam Ansari, besides Wapda’s representative and other officials concerned.

Explaining the conditions, the CM stressed that indents of the irrigation department down­str­eam Chashma be given priority over transfer of water to the Jhelum-Chenab system; Chashma reservoir be kept at brim-full of above 648 feet to cover up dip inflows for consistency in fulfilling the indents by Sindh irrigation department; and in case of depressed receipt at rim station, provision of water to Sindh be ensured by releases from the Mangla reservoir unconditionally.

CM discusses Wapda’s proposal with irrigation minister, officials

Giving his conditional approval to Wapda’s proposal, the CM directed the irrigation department to put it up at the next meeting of the advisory committee of the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) scheduled to be held later this month.

According to the proposal the outflows of Mangla would be res­tric­ted and the resultant shortfalls in Punjab compensated from the Chashma-Jhelum and Taunsa-Panjnad link canals.

Before the CM’s approval, special irrigation secretary Aslam Ansari briefed him about the early-April meeting of Irsa’s advisory committee. He said the meeting discussed water availa­bility and regulation pattern during the Kharif season of 2019.

The Wapda representative sug­ges­ted that storage in Tarbela Dam be restricted to the level of 1,430 feet up to June 30 this year on account of the ongoing work in order to facilitate power genera­tion.

However, Sindh’s represen­tative expres­sed reservations over the proposal on the grounds: A. The first phase of receipt of water at rim stations is attributed to snow melting which is partly utilised for sowing of cotton crop, seedlings for paddy crop and storage in reservoirs to maintain consistency in release downstream.

B. The second phase of receipt at rim station is attributed to glacial melting during June and July.

C. The third phase of receipt is attributed to glacial melting aug­mented by monsoon rains during end of July and August which is mainly retained in dams for utilisation during forthcoming Rabi season.

D. During the interim period of phase-I and II from June 10 to July 10, a dip in inflows is experienced which is compensated by releases from dams. This period happens to be paddy transplantation season.

Thus, the Sindh representative conten­ded, it was desirable to maintain Tarbela Dam at 1,450 feet level to ensure supply of irrigation water during transplan­tation and maturity of newly transplanted crop.

Published in Dawn, May 4th, 2019