Irsa committee to finalise water distribution formula today

The Indus River System Authority (Irsa) advisory committee will meet here toady (Saturday) to finalise water distribution formula among provinces for the upcoming Rabi season, as the country is expected to face water shortage, ranging between 35 to 40 percent.
Chairman Irsa Bashir Ahmad Dahar will chair the meeting. Irsa members, officials of provincial irrigation departments, Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) and officials of ministry for food and agriculture will attend the meeting. The advisory committee is meeting at a time when water inflow in the Indus, Kabul, Jhelum, and Chenab fell to a historic low.
The expected water shortage in Rabi season beginning from October 01 has become a real trouble for the agriculture ministry and it is under tremendous pressure to revise the proposed wheat production target from 23.5 million tonnes to 23 million tonnes. However, an official in agriculture ministry was of the view that if the country gets reasonable rains during the sowing season, the proposed target will be achieved easily. In order to ensure achievement of self-sufficiency in wheat, its production must be well over 24 million tonnes, he added.
Sources said that 34 MAF water is the minimum requirement for irrigation during Rabi season against the expected availability of 26 MAF. In the last Rabi season, the country experienced a shortage of 23 percent. The water shortage in the last Rabi season was one of the major factors that deprived the country to achieve the wheat target production of 24 million tonnes.
According to sources, the water shortage will hit the agriculture sector and undermine the government efforts to achieve self-sufficiency in wheat. The other crops like lentils, oil seeds and fodder etc will also be affected. Due to wheat shortage, the government faced a highly uncomfortable situation this year, and if the wheat target was missed for the second consecutive year, the government could face yet another trouble not only this fiscal, but in the next financial year as well, the sources opined.
After the meeting of technical committee held early this week, Irsa chief engineer Aurangzeb Khattak had said that 50 percent water flow would be available in River Indus during Rabi season. He said that water availability in River Jhelum would remain at 55 percent, Chenab 80 percent and river Kabul 60 percent. Around 0.2 MAF water would be available from other sources, he said.