ISLAMABAD, Jan 16: The Sindh government has agreed to an early water discharge from Tarbela Dam to help the federal government to generate maximum power from hydel sources to avert a threat of load shedding as a result of reduction in gas supplies, it is learnt.

Informed sources told Dawn that a meeting presided over by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Saturday directed the relevant authorities to get maximum power from hydel resources to meet shortfall as a result of gas suspension from of supply the Sui field to the power sector.

The Wapda, said the sources, already faced a power generation setback as a result of canal closures announced by the Punjab government for seasonal desilting and resultant closure of water releases from Mangla Dam.

On the advice of the Punjab government, the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) has already asked the Wapda to immediately stop water discharges from Punjnad for the period between Jan 14 and 31. Besides Mangla Dam, the closure of Thal Canal has already been extended to Jan 31.

To overcome power shortages as a result of canal closures in Punjab, the federal government contacted the provincial governments on the directives of the prime minister to maximize hydel power generation by the Wapda.

The Sindh government voluntarily agreed to seek water releases from its Rabi share that would result in increased power generation from Tarbela Dam. The sources said the Irsa, on the indent of Sindh, had increased flows from Tarbela Dam to the extent of 8,800 cusecs per day because desilting process in Punjab was already under way and it was technically unviable to put on halt this process.

The releases from Tarbela Dam helped the Wapda on two counts, said the sources. They explained that water release from Tarbela Dam generates hydel power directly and then at the Ghazi Barotha Hydropower Project.