Sindh on Wednesday sharply reacted to the opening of the Chashma-Jhelum Link Canal and requested the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) to immediately stop the transfer of irrigation water, citing water shortage in the system. On Tuesday, Irsa decided to open the CJ Link Canal with a 2-1 vote, supplying irrigation water to the Greater Thal Canal - one of the sources of friction between Sindh and Punjab.
In a letter sent to the Chairman Irsa on Wednesday (today), Sindh''s Irrigation and Power Department said that the province faced a shortage of around 57 percent in first 10-daily of 2012. It reduced a bit in the second 10-daily, but it still remained about 40 percent.
The communication claimed that Sindh was currently facing a shortage of 23 percent. The flows in River Indus at Tarbela and in River Kabul at Naushehra continue to decline and there was no appreciable water available in Tarbela''s reservoir for compensating the flows of Indus and Kabul rivers. The letter expressed the fear that if the flows were further reduced, Sindh would again face an acute shortage of water in the next few days.
Stressing the need for immediately stopping the transfer of water through the CJ Link Canal, Sindh expressed its concern that the water was being transferred from Indus System to the Jhelum-Chenab system through the CJ Link Canal at a time when there was a shortage in Indus system. On April 21, Punjab demanded its share of river water for the command area of the Greater Thal Canal and the issue was taken up in the Irsa meeting on Tuesday.
Chairman Irsa Syed Mazhar Ali Shah told this correspondent that he had written a dissent note on Punjab''s demand, as there was a shortage of water in the system. The decision was to be taken on a majority vote, and Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) joined hands, leaving the Sindh member alone. The meeting was to be attended by all four members from the provinces plus a member from the federal government, supposed to be domiciled in Sindh.
On the contrary, Punjab, Sindh and KPK had their representation in Tuesday''s meeting, but the Balochistan member did not turn up. Also, the seat of the federal member has been lying vacant as Sindh has not nominated anyone for the slot for over one-and-a-half-year. As a result, the number game fell in favour of Punjab, the chairman Irsa said.