Sindh Courier Report

Karachi

Despite faced with scarcity of water due to short releases by Indus River System Authority (IRSA), Sindh, as a gesture of good will, has assured Balochistan of resolving its water woes.

Sindh gave assurance to Balochistan of resolving the issue when its Minister of Irrigation Mir Muhammad Khan Lehri held meeting with Sindh Minister for Irrigation Jam Khan Shoro at his office in Karachi on Thursday.

They discussed about the water issues confronting the two provinces including the water availability situation in Khirthar canal and Pat Feeder canal.

During the meeting, Sindh Minister Jam Khan Shoro and his counterpart Mir Muhammad Khan Lehri agreed upon to resolve the water issue between the two provinces through mutual consultation and talks.

Lehri demanded providing water as per gauge to Balochistan at RD 109 of Pat Feeder canal and also asked for carrying out its desilting.

On this, Sindh Minister Jam Khan Shoro directed the Secretary Irrigation department, Suhail Ahmed Qureshi for taking measures for the early solution of water related issues of Balochistan.

Earlier, on November 22, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah had talked to Chief Minister Balochistan Kudus Bizenjo on telephone and invited him to discuss water issues and settle them amicably in December.

The water shortage issue in Balochistan was raised by Mir Changez Khan Jamali, the President PPP Baluchistan, who called on Sindh Chief Minister at CM House.

Murad Ali Shah told him that people of Balochistan were our brothers. “Sindh is the second home of people of Balochistan so how can we take their water. We want to accommodate them,” he had said.

Shah told him that when water level at Sukkur Barrage remains low the Kirthar/Jhal Magsi Canal could not take water. “During water shortages not only Balochistan but Sindh also faces shortage,” he said.

Shah had suggested Balochistan CM to have a meeting with him along with the experts of both the provinces and discuss how the issue of the shortage could be settled.

It is pertinent to mention that the Balochistan has constantly been accusing the Sindh of depriving it of water from Indus River not realizing certain facts that include low level of water in the river and the theft of water by big landlords in the border area of two provinces. Even, during the IRSA meetings, the Balochistan representative had been blaming Sindh and making its (Sindh’s) case weak for due share of water as per 1991 Water Accord.

Sindh had repeatedly been raising voice for its due share of water. Even on Wednesday, provincial Irrigation Minister told in a press conference that Sindh continues to suffer due to water shortage as the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) doesn’t release Sindh’s due share of water in violation of 1991 Water Accord.

Jam Khan Shoro, who was accompanied by Information Minister Saeed Ghani, said that denying Sindh of due share of water would also create acute water shortage in Balochistan.

“Beside the shortage of water in Rice Canal, Dadu Canal and other canals, there is no discharge of water to the and as a result sea intrusion has also chipped away 2.2 to 3.2 million acres of agricultural land in coastal belt of province,” Shoro told.

Meanwhile, when Sindh Courier sought the opinion of an expert – Fazlullah Qureshi, the former Additional Chief Secretary of Sindh, who had retired as Federal Secretary, he said:

“Historically, the Balochistan has no right on Indus River water, as there were no canals in the past to draw water from river for Balochistan. It was only during British Raj that Sukkur Barrage was built and Khirthar canal was dug to irrigate vast lands lying barren in Balochistan area.”

According Mr. Qureshi, there are two main factors behind the short supply of water to Balochistan. The first one is low releases of water to Sindh in Indus River, which reduces the water level at the mouth of canal. “Sometimes, Sindh raises the water level artificially by putting the planks at barrage to release the water to Khirthar canal.”

“Another factor is the theft of water by big landlords in border areas of two provinces. This deprives the tail-end growers of water in Balochistan, same as happens with tail-enders in Sindh,” he told.

The Balochistan also receives water from Kachhi Canal located in Punjab. It is a 399 km long canal, out of which 305 km is in Punjab and 94 km is in Balochistan. It starts from Taunsa Barrage at Indus River. The canal provides irrigation water supply to 72,000 acres of agricultural land in south of Punjab and Baluchistan.

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Hyderabad: Sindh Irrigation Minister Jam Khan Shoro has said that the federal government has opened flood canals in Punjab during the water shortage which would worsen water situation in Sindh from Thursday.

Addressing the press conference at Press Club Hyderabad on Wednesday, he said that more than 55,000 cusecs of water was required at Sukkur Barrage while only 37,000 cusecs of water was being received at Guddu Barrage in Sindh.

“The water shortage in Chotiari Dam, Keenjhar Lake and other canals was increasing which would lead to shortage of drinking water in even Karachi,” minister said.

“In the current season, we had enough water in our system that after supplying water to the tail-end, water was released into the Chotiari Dam, Keenjhar Lake and other canals, but in the present situation we are unable to fill them,” he added.

Shoro said that the committees set up for distribution of water before partition also declared that people at tail-end had first right on water and this right was accepted in the 1991 Water Accord as well. “The water which supposed to be received in June was received in the end of July which greatly increased the demand of water from Sukkur to Badin’s Bhugra Memon and the command areas of the canals.”

He said that under the 1991 Accord, it was stated that 114 MF of water was available in the country which would be distributed among the provinces according to their need but due to wrong policies of Indus River System Authority (IRSA), Sindh was becoming barren.

He warned that there would be serious protests across Sindh, if the required supply of water was not ensured immediately.

To a question, he said that Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah had always protested to federal government for not providing water to the tail-end growers of Sindh.

Shoro said that Chief Minister also raised the issue in the Council of Common Interests which was referred to the courts and from there it was again referred to the CCI for resolution.

To yet another question, he said that although there were administrative problems in the Irrigation Department, but at present the water situation was serious and our first priority was to deal with the situation. “An effective strategy would be formulated soon to resolve the administrative issues in Irrigation Department,” he said.

On a question, he said that when even the half of 48 MF water of Sindh share was not given, the situation would be worst. “Due to late supply of water, sowing was delayed which caused great loss to agriculture sector”.

MPA Abdul Jabbar Khan, MPA Kamal Khan Chang, Sindh Chief Minister’s Special Assistant for Hyderabad Saghir Qureshi, Pasha Qazi, Azhar Sial, Advocate Faraz Kandharo and other PPP workers were also present on the occasion.

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Sindh Courier

The post Sindh Faces Acute Water Shortage first appeared on Sindh Courier.

Karachi: Central Information Secretary Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians and Member National Assembly Ms. Shazia Atta Marri has said that Sindh province is currently facing severe water shortage as the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) has been violating the 1991 Water Accord which is both criminal and unconstitutional and highly condemnable act.

In a tweet on Saturday on severe water shortage in Sindh province, she said that the Council of Common Interests (CCI) had approved the water agreement under which Indus River System Authority was set up and it was established to monitor the water allocation and distribution amongst the provinces as per water accord. “But the IRSA is not distributing water share to the provinces accordingly,” Ms. Shazia said.

She added that Indus Delta region is also suffering due to severe water shortage.

It may be noted that Sindh is currently facing more than 37 percent water shortage and when a representative of Sindh raised this issue in a recent meeting of IRSA, he was misbehaved. The government of Sindh had demanded removal of IRSA chairman for his undue attitude.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah had also raised issue of water shortage in a press conference. He had alleged releasing more water to Punjab.

Read: Water Accord Violation – Sindh faces 37% water shortage

The chief minister sharing the data of first 10-daily (May 1 to 10) of Kharif season 2021, had said that the share of Punjab was 93.7 MAF against which it was given 77.5 MAF which showed a shortage of 17.3 percent. Similarly, the share of Sindh was 51.1 MAF against which it was given 33.3 MAF that showed a 35 percent shortage. Balochistan was given 20 percent more water.

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Sindh Courier

The post Sindh continues to face water shortage: Shazia Marri first appeared on Sindh Courier.