Sindh government on Wednesday hurled serious charges of discrimination against Indus River System Authority (Irsa) in water distribution and urged withdrawal of No Objection Certificate (NOC) of the proposed 25MW Hydropower Project on Chashma Jehlum Link Canal.
Presided over by Nawab Yousuf Talpur, the National Assembly Standing Committee on Water Resources also expressed displeasure at the non issuance of production orders of Asif Ali Zardari and Khawaja Saad Rafieque.
Giving the viewpoint of Sindh government on 25MW hydropower project, Special Secretary Irrigation, Aslam Ansari said that issuance of NOC by Irsa was illegal. He argued that setting of hydropower project at Chashma Jehlum Link Canal was to use backdoor to operate CJ link. He said, if 10,000 cusecs water is released to operate this plant, 50 percent of the water will be wasted before reaching Sindh.
He said, in the concluding para of NOC, Irsa says that it does not commit water released exclusively for power generation in CJ Link Canal which implies that the regulator is indicating that it cannot release water in CJ Link Canal over and above whatever water is already being released for 15 days or 100 days, questioning how the feasibility of the project would be conceived.
He said, according to para fourteen of the Irsa Act, issuance of NOC for the project was the prerogative of provincial government.
"Irsa does not have the jurisdiction of issuing any such NOC. First NOC should come from the provinces. The water regulator can only decide on what falls under Irsa Accord with majority vote on all issues," he added.
According to the Irsa Act, the role of Irsa is only to review rivers and water operational matters.
He said, the Sindh government has had reservations from the beginning as the three-tier formula is the replacement of Water Accord 1991. He said no criterion for operation of CJ Link Canal has been formulated so far by Irsa.
"When we raise objections, we are asked to approach the Council of Common Interests (CCI)," he said, adding that such a stance is akin to saying that we will engage in terrorism and if you have any objection you should approach anti-terrorism court or police station. This approach is not right."
Chairman Standing Committee stated that this project also came under discussion a few years ago. However, later the proposal was dropped. He also complained that Irsa is taking decisions on major vote i.e. 4/1 which is unfair. Special Secretary Irrigation Sindh further argued that Irsa always seeks Chief Minister Sindh's consent prior to opening the CJ Link Canal but for issuance of NOC hydropower project he was not taken on board.
The representative of Punjab government informed the committee that so far Irsa has issued NOC for the project, acquisition of land and feasibility study will come at a later stage. Chairman Irsa justified the issuance of NOC.
However, Standing Committee directed Irsa and Sindh government's representative to sit together and deliberate on this issue and submit a report to the committee.
The committee also discussed the issue of non production orders of former President Asif Ali Zardari and Khawaja Saad Rafique. Secretary Committee stated that he processed the file in the light of production orders signed by the Chairman but he has not received the file from the Secretary Assembly. However, confusion was evident in identifying the relevant Secretary - Secretary National Assembly or Secretary Committee.
Khawaja Asif said that it was the prerogative of the Chairman of the Standing Committee to issue productions orders of any member of the committee.
Ali Nawaz Awan suggested that National Assembly's Law section should be consulted to sort out confusion on the word Secretary.
According to official statement, Irsa has the view that Indus river system was apportioned through Water Accord 1991 and its para 14 (d) provide the freedom to the stakeholders to modify system-wise and period wise uses within their allocations so the NOC in question was issued accordingly under the Irsa Act. However, he suggested that aggrieved party has all right within the section 8(3) of Irsa Act to approach the Council of Common Interest (CCI) against the decision of Irsa. The Secretary M/o Water Resources informed the Committee that as the NOC was issued by Irsa under the Irsa Act, so the recommendation of the committee to cancel the NOC is not based on the facts.
The Committee unanimously suggested that the Council of Common Interests (CCI) may be called at the earliest to discuss the said issue and till such date the further processing of the project in question may be stopped as the Sindh Assembly has also passed the unanimous resolution on the disputed issue. The Committee also suggested that Irsa may consult the Government of Sindh on the disputed matter of NOC. The Committee while discussing the agenda item iv regarding small and medium dam under construction and planning stage for twin city was deferred with the view that the matter may be placed before the sub-committee already appointed by the Standing Committee on Water Resources during its last meeting by enhancing the ToRs i.e i) Non release of outstanding operations and maintenance (O&M) Charges by the Rawalpindi Cantonment Board (RCB), Rawalpindi Development Authority (RDA) and Water and Sanitation Agency Rawalpindi (WASA) in respect of Metropolitan Water Supply Project, Khanpur. ii) Proposed small and medium dam (under construction and at planning stage) for Rawalpindi and Islamabad.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2019
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