Illegal use of water by Punjab

The admission by some Punjab government officials at the Irsa meeting that the province used water in excess of its allocated share from the Indus during the Rabi season to tide over the prolonged dry spell, seems to vindicate Sindh's charge of water pilferage against Punjab. On whose permission this was done has not been made clear.
An official statement, issued at the conclusion of Irsa's deliberations held to investigate the alleged irregular water take-off by Punjab, has directed the province to release 3,500 cusecs of water. A Recorder Report, quoting official sources, has revealed that Irsa informed Punjab on March 15 that it could no longer use water from the Indus, as its share already stood utilised.
According to the report, Punjab took 6000 cusecs of water from the Indus, on a daily basis, in violation of the formula finalised for the current Rabi season. Irsa chairman, taking a serious notice of Punjab's exceeding its allocated share, has sought Wapda's intervention to stop the province from illegally using water from the Indus System.
The latest row is bound to further aggravate the discord between the two provinces over water. The Punjab-Sindh water-sharing row has, meanwhile, has taken on a keener edge with the increased intrusion by Arabian Sea into the delta, leading to inundation of some 2.1 million acres of fertile land, that has forced a majority of the delta's 1.7 million inhabitants to relocate elsewhere. It is said that out of 3.697 million acres of arable land in Thatta and Badin districts, 1.2 million acres (or 33 percent) has got submerged in seawater. The Greater Thal Canal issue has also become a big irritant that has created bad blood between the two provinces. The ties have remained tense since the early 1980s when Punjab began planning to draw most of the water which, it said was flowing unutilised into the sea downstream Kotri.
The Water Apportionment Accord, signed by all the four federating units in 1991, had allocated a total of 114.35 million acre feet (maf) of water, to be distributed among them. Under this accord, Punjab got 55.96 maf while Sindh was given 46.7 maf. It was also agreed that the federating units could undertake new water projects from their share without disturbing the other provinces' share. However, this provision of the accord has not been fully implemented. For instance, the Thal Canal has been a focus of controversy since the start of its construction in mid-1980s. It was at first said in 1991 that designed as a flood canal with a capacity of 4,700 cusecs it would be in operation for 40 days only during the inundation season without affecting the water needs of Sindh. But after 10 years it was remodelled to carry 8,500 cusecs of water, which could be increased to 15,000 cusecs. The inter-provincial discord over water sharing has worsened since the 1994 ministerial decision that virtually supplanted the 1991 parliamentary agreement. Experts believe that the major cause of the current disagreement between provinces over the quantum of water each is to use arises from the government's failure to develop additional water reservoirs. Taking it for granted in 1991 that additional water storage capacity will be available to meet the enhanced needs of all the provinces, and then factoring this hypothetical increase into the parliamentary accord was naïve, to say the least. It was a classic case of counting one's chickens before they are hatched. Further, the six-year cycle of drought in the region has rendered water shortages more acute.
The main problem actually lies with sharing the water shortages. And mistrust and resentment have characterised relations between the three smaller provinces and the Punjab since the time of One Unit when the controversial Indus Basin Water Treaty was signed with India. The political underpinnings of inter-provincial discord over water sharing thus cannot be ignored. Even the installation of Rs. 351 million telemetry system to determine the exact quantum of water supplied to each province has failed to allay the inter-provincial mistrust.
In all water-sharing arrangements the lower riparian stakeholders always enjoy certain inalienable safeguards to protect their water rights. The possibility of Punjab, being an upper riparian province, trying to get more than its due share is always there, as the Irsa session has found out.
The overuse of water by Punjab also demonstrates Irsa's failure as a monitoring and executing agency. Ironically, most of the problems that beset our country today essentially stem from Punjab's historical propensity to throw its weight around, unmindful of the smaller federating units' concerns and sensitivities. Unfortunately, the federal government too has invariably failed to play its role as an impartial arbiter. This attitude must be charged in the larger interest of national cohesion and harmony.