'Standing wheat crops on millions of acres would ruin if Chashma Jhelum canal not opened'

Punjab Water Council (PWC) Convenor Farooq Bajwa has said that Chashma Jhelum (CJ) Link canal is the lifeline to 10.35 millions of acres of standing wheat crop of South Punjab but they will destroy if CJ canal is not opened with immediate effect. He was talking to talking to reporters here on Tuesday.
He said the alarming water shortage and dry weather were matters of life and death for the farmers especially for 11 districts of south Punjab because they are totally dependent on river water. The current 45-50 percent shortage of water availability was ringing alarm of great concerns for agricultural sector, he said.
He further said that the representative of Punjab in the Irsa had badly failed to plead the case of Punjab. He further said that any further delay in opening of CJ link canal would be disastrous not only for the farmer's community, but also for the economy. The storage at Mangla along with Chenab River flows could hardly cater to the irrigation needs of Mangla command area and would incur huge water losses if releases were made downstream Rasool Barrage he observed.
He alleged that Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and Shahbaz Sharif, Chief Minister, Punjab, were responsible for the farmers's loss and they should intervene for a fair play and justice to the farmers specially of South Punjab. Speaking on the occasion, Punjab Water Council spokesperson Rabia Sultan said that although the government was claiming that water would be available for irrigation in all canals in the first weak of February, unfortunately the situation was totally contrary to the government's tall claims.
She said that presently water level in both reservoirs was getting better due to recent rains. The acute shortage of water situation would badly affect farming in south Punjab. She said that the share of area in total wheat production of the country was 50 percent and drought-like conditions would ultimately affect country's total wheat production.
She said that farmers were even unable to use alternative sources of irrigation by extracting groundwater as electric tube-wells remained idle due to loadshedding. She said that the country would face severe water shortage in future if the government did not construct Kalabagh Dam besides other dams. She said that the government was not taking water issue seriously.
Tariq Bucha a progressive farmer said Sindh was given more water after cutting the share of Punjab. He said that it was time that Sindh should come forward and show flexibility by sharing water with south Punjab. There was an urgent need to revise the water distribution formula for the four provinces by the federation.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Water Front president, Suleman Najeeb Khan and Jameel A Naz said that India created a major water crisis in Punjab during 1948 bringing Pakistan economic distress. They further said that Pakistan had not built any reservoir since 1974. Pakistan was perhaps the only developing country of the world, which had been shy of building dams. He appealed to the government to construct dams in order to overcome water shortage in the country.