Indus River System Authority (Irsa) on Friday released 15,000 cusecs additional water from Mangla dam on river Jhelum to augment the hydal power generation up to 1,200 megawatt and increase water flows in Punjab irrigation canals for Rabi crops.
Punjab irrigation engineers told Business Recorder that 53,000 cusecs water is being released in the canals after one month's closure to irrigate the crops including wheat that urgently needs the third watering after sowing in November and December. Wheat is the most important winter crop that has been sown over 17 million acres in the province to produce 20 million tons of the nation's staple food this season.
They said Punjab is currently getting 35,000 cusecs water from river Jhelum 10,000 cusecs from river Chenab and 8,000 cusecs from river Indus while rest of the flows of mighty Indus and river Kabul are being discharged downstream the Guddu, Sukkur and Kotri barrages to meet water requirements of Sindh province.
They said there were sufficient rains during the month of January that compensated the water shortage due to annual closure of canals for desilting and repairs purposes. Director General Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco) Tahir Basharat Cheema told that increased hydal, thermal and nuclear power generation has enabled Pepco to reduce daily load shedding of electricity. The industrial sector load shedding has been cut down from four to two hours whereas for commercial and domestic consumers by three to four hours.