IRSA overrules order of AJK government

The Indus River System Authority has overruled an administrative order by the government of Azad Jammu and Kashmir imposing restriction on impounding the Mangla Reservoir beyond 1202 feet above the mean sea level and told the Water and Power Development Authority to fill the raised Mangla Dam to its maximum capacity of 1,242 ft level at all costs, considering the immense benefits for the agriculture sector and enhanced power generation in summer because of maximum water availability in the reservoir.
The decision came in a trilateral meeting at WAPDA House which also drew in water, power and Punjab Irrigation Department bigwigs. The authority chairman earlier with members from Sindh and the Punjab had visited the damaged site of the Mirpur-Kotli Road and the allied reservoir rim and held a meeting with the power authorities about the constraints of filling the Mangla Reservoir. The meeting was held in the backdrop of a collapsed stretch of the Mirpur-Kotli dual carriageway in Khaliqabad and damage caused to the allied reservoir rim.
It emerged that there was never a threat to the dam safety because of the road collapse. The power authority has already decided to construct the damaged portion and rehabilitation of adjacent reservoir rim as a goodwill gesture. The senior official present in the meeting said The Indus River System Authority has assured its power counterpart of retaining the water level at 1,210 feet above the mean sea level up to May 20, 2015 so that foundation works could be completed till that time. He also said the Indus River System Authority had endorsed the WAPDA's viewpoint that the Mangla reservoir has a natural embankment on suburbs of Mirpur city and ideally no road should be constructed on natural embankment area. He said if at all any road were to be built on natural embankment, the power authority's input should be sought to meet the construction requirements such as compaction of material for road foundation and construction of retaining wall with specified design. The spokesperson said the present reservoir level of Mangla Dam as of today is 1207.25 ft above mean sea level as compared to 1152.85 feet on the same day of last year, which indicates more water availability in the reservoir.