Balochistan Excise and Taxation Minister Mir Muhammad Amin Umrani has called upon the Sindh government to ensure the release of water to Balochistan according to its share so that the growers of the province get water for crop cultivation. Talking to APP here, the minister termed the approval of NFC Award a great landmark towards building of confidence among the provinces and said that the same courage is also needed for judicious distribution of water to the provinces.
The share of water of Balochistan, which was guaranteed in the Water Accord 1991 should be ensured as the cut in this regard casting bad impact on agriculture sector of the province, the minister said. The Governor Balochistan Nawab Zulfiqar Magsi was the Chief Minister of the province at the time when Water Accord 1991 was signed by the chief ministers of all the four provinces, the minister said and added that it was decided unanimously that Balochistan province would continue getting its water share despite the shortage of water in the Barrage system.
However, the minister said that dissimilar situation prevailed since signing the accord and the provinces witnessed the cut of water from Punjab to Sindh and the situation adversely affected to Balochistan. Despite widening of Pat Feeder Canal, the water to Balochistan is being released lesser than its due share instead to supply the same according to designed capacity of the canal, the minister said and added that it because of non release of water to Balochistan from Sindh.
About non release of water according to share of Balochistan, Sindh always justified the position that Punjab is not releasing water according to requirement and when Balochistan government moved towards Punjab, it received replies that Sindh is getting water according to demand, the minister said and added that recently when the province faced the shortage of water, the chief minister Balochistan, provincial irrigation minister and he himself intervened into the matter and got the water share of Balochistan released from Sindh.
Umrani said that Sindh should release the share of water to Balochistan accordingly instead of releasing water after the repeated demands from the Balochistan government. It has been decided that Balochistan should have 10400 cusecs water for Kharif Season including 6700 cusecs water for Pat Feeder Canal, 2400 cusecs water for Kheer Thar Canal, 700 cusecs water for Much Canal and 600 cusecs water for Majhuti Canal.
The province could not bear loss of single cusec of water, the minister said and added that as a result of non release of required water, the command areas of fifty percent command areas of the distributaries of Pat Feeder Canal and Kheer Thar Canal have converted into non cultivatable land during last three years.
The minister requested to Punjab and Sindh governments not to cut the share of water of Balochistan so that the agriculture sector of the province could be saved from destruction. Responding to a question about Aghaz-e-Huqooq-e-Balochistan Package, Mir Muhammad Amin Umrani termed it the great efforts of President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani and his cabinet to remove the 61 years old sense of deprivation of the people of Balochistan.
When the democratic government was restored after a long dictatorial rule, the minister said that President Zardari apologised with the people of Balochistan on behalf of the federal government unjust attitude and later the federal government formed a committee to get recommendations regarding the rights of the people of Balochistan.
The people of Balochistan have witnessed the sincere efforts the government has made which includes the announcement of 20 thousand jobs for unemployed youth of the province, appointment of Balochistan Chief Minister as the Chairman of Gawadar Project and promise of abolition of the agreements towards Sandak Project and handing over the same to Balochistan government.
Apart from these efforts, the minister said that the present democratic government has succeeded in announcing the NFC Award, which was pending since last 19 years. As a result of the efforts of the Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani, Balochistan has succeeded to get sufficient share in the Award, the minister said and thanked the governments of Punjab, Sindh and NWFP for realising the grievances of Balochistan and extending their full support and co-operation.
The implementation on Aghaz-e-Huqooq-Balochistan Package has been started in letter and spirit, the minister said and added that the people of Balochistan had started receiving positive results from the package.
Following the directives of President Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, any of the arrested persons have been released while a committee has also been formed regarding the missing persons of the province, the minister said and said that the relatives of the missing persons have been invited to register FIRs in the jurisdictions of their respective police stations.
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