Punjab Water Council (PWC) has condemned Irsa's decision to close all canals of river Indus which supply crucial river water to Punjab. In a press release issued here on Friday PWC has emphasised that Punjab produces 80 percent of the country's total agriculture production, but gets a much lower share of river water.
Such ill-thought decisions are bound to create further disharmony among the provinces at this hour of crisis and economy could not afford decrease in agriculture production also. Punjab has compromised its position many times for the sake of provincial harmony and has no further room to continue doing so.
The imbalance of representation in IRSA is the root cause of all problems of water distribution. The river Indus flows through Punjab since centuries and Punjab has every right to use its water for agriculture and other purposes.
PWC also told Irsa that the storage at Mangla, Terbela and Chashma were built for the replacement needs of Punjab under the 1960 Treaty and no law or authority can over rule the right of Punjab's farmers which are enshrined in the Indus Basin Water Treaty of 1960 between India and Pakistan. PWC has demanded that the Chief Minister of Punjab should personally intervene and ensure the flows of Indus to Punjab to avoid any mishap.-PR