Opening flood canals in Punjab will worsen water shortage in Sindh: provincial irrigation minister

HYDERABAD: Sindh Irrigation Minister Jam Khan Shoro has said that the federal government has opened flood canals in Punjab during the water shortage which would worsen the water shortage situation in Sindh from tomorrow.

He informed this while holding press conference at Press Club Hyderabad on Wednesday. He said that more than 55,000 cusecs of water was required at Sukkur Barrage while only 37,000 cusecs of water was being received at Guddu.

He said that water shortage in Chotiari Dam, Keenjhar Lake and other canals was increasing which would lead to shortage of drinking water in Karachi. “In the current season, we have enough water in our system that after supplying water to the tail, water was released into the Chotiari Dam, Keenjhar Lake and other canals, but in the present situation we are unable to fill them,” he said.

Shoro said that the committees set up for distribution of water before partition also declared that people at tail had first right on water and this right was accepted in the 1991 Water Accord as well. He further informed that the water which supposed to be received in June was received in the end of July which greatly increased the demand of water from Sukkur to Badin’s Bhagra Memon and the command areas of the canals. He said that under the 1991 Accord, it was stated that 114 MF of water was available in the country which would be distributed among the provinces according to their need but due to wrong policies of IRSA, Sindh was becoming barren.

He warned that if the required supply of water was not ensured immediately, there would be serious protests across Sindh.

Replying to a question, he said that Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah had always protested to federal government for not providing water to the tail growers of Sindh and struggle for the basic rights of the people of Sindh. He said that Chief Minister Sindh also raised the issue in the Council of Common Interests which was referred to the courts and from there it was again referred to the CCI for resolution.

To a question, he said that although there were administrative problems in the Irrigation Department, but at present the water situation was serious and our first priority was to deal with the situation, “an effective strategy would be formulated soon to resolve the administrative issues in Irrigation Department”, he said.

To a question, he said that when even half of 48 MF water of Sindh share was not given, the situation would be worse. Replying to a question, he said that due to late supply of water, sowing was delayed which caused great loss to agriculture sector.

MPA Abdul Jabbar Khan, MPA Kamal Khan Chang, Sindh Chief Minister’s Special Assistant for Hyderabad Saghir Qureshi, Pasha Qazi, Azhar Sial, Advocate Faraz Kandharo and other PPP workers were also present on the occasion.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021