Apropos editorial "Abiyana rates need to reflect inflation" carried by Business Recorder on July 14, 2012, there is no denying the fact that the rates of irrigation water in Pakistan are one of the lowest in the world. The water charges do not even reflect annual increase in inflation rate.
Successive governments in Pakistan have failed to articulate any appropriate policy towards water rates, mainly because of each government's unwillingness to annoy agriculturist lobby that has a historically strong presence in parliament and civil and military bureaucracy.
Although several studies conducted on irrigation water charges in Pakistan have concluded that irrigation shortages are the result of the inflexibility of the present irrigation water supply system for agricultural use and have little to do with the existing water pricing practice in the country, these have failed to appreciate the fact that successive governments' inability to formulate an appropriate pricing regime in accordance with the opportunity cost has led to improper maintenance.