HYDERABAD, Jan 15: Former Sindh minister and chairman technical committee on water resources A.N.G. Abbasi has said that the water shortage downstream Kotri has adversely affected the environment.
He was speaking at a national seminar on "Environmental, social and cultural impact of water scarcity in Sindh", organized by the M. A. Kazi Institute of Chemistry, University of Sindh on Thursday.
Mr Abbasi said socio-economic conditions, way of life and flora and fauna had been demolished due to the non-release of Indus waters downstream Kotri Barrage.
He pointed out there were natural and unnatural causes of the water shortage. Elaborating, the chairman of the technical committee said the natural cause was the shortage of water in rivers while the unnatural was mal-distribution of this precious commodity.
Mr Abbasi was highly critical of faulty planning and mismanagement of water resources and said that the mismanagement had become a rule rather than an exception.
He said the "managers" were going "freestyle" and they had totally mismanaged the oldest irrigation system. He said we could not afford to lose more time and we must realize the stock realities and correct our sense of direction.
He said the limit had been reached and we must ensure proper planning and management of our water resources. Former senator and irrigation expert Abdul Majeed Qazi read a lengthy paper on the subject of "Overview of water resources in Pakistan - river, rain and underground water".
He dwelt in detail on the water distribution and sharing, water release below Kotri, construction of greater Thal canal and water reservoirs. He said the 1991 Water Accord agreed by provinces and approved by the council for common interests was consensus document and had attained constitutional status and therefore cannot be annulled or modified under any conditions by any authority less than the CCI.
He said the historical uses formula was never adopted and never agreed upon by the provinces nor was it approved by the CCI. Under the circumstances, he said, it was crystal clear that there was absolutely no justification whatsoever to modify the1991 Accord.
He said Punjab was always ready to share the surplus but it was totally averse to sharing the shortages.M.A. Kazi Institute of Chemistry director Prof (Dr) M.Y. Khuhawar explained the aims and objectives of the seminar.
He said during the last 55 years an average decrease in the water resources had been witnessed to the extent of 88 per cent. He said for 10 months no water was released downstream Kotri which had seriously affected the people and increased salt contents in the Indus waters.
Sindh University vice-chancellor Mazharul Haq Siddiqui in his presidential remarks welcomed the participants of the seminar. Three sessions were held on the first day of the seminar and a large number of experts and scholars read papers and spoke on the occasion.
They included MD SIDA Rafique Safi Munshey, former Sindh irrigation secretary Mohammad Idrees Rajput, Isra University vice-chancellor Dr Prof Asadullah Qazi, Dr Abida Tahirani, Dr Ghulam Rasool Keerio, Zulfiqar Halepoto, Dr Iftikhar Hussain Jafri, Dr Shafiqur Rehman, Talib Hussain Azad and others.
Later, talking to the newsmen A.N.G. Abbasi said the terms of reference of the technical committee had not been decided as yet and expressed the hope that these will be decided very soon. He said the meeting of the technical committee would be held soon to chalk out modalities.
Answering a question, he said the parliamentary committee constituted on the water issue and the technical committee would work in tandem and cooperate with each other adding that they were not rivals.
He termed the steps being taken on the water issue as positive. He said he would attend the meeting of the parliamentary committee scheduled to be held in Lahore on Jan 20.
Mr Abbasi said there were both negative and positive points of water issue but added that he believed in constructive results. When his attention was drawn to the proposals of certain groups about a new covenant on water issue, Mr Abbasi said he believed in consensus. He said the committee would try to formulate practicable recommendations.