There’s ‘judicious’ distribution of water, insists Irsa

ISLAMABAD: The Indus River System Authority (IRSA) spokesman on Sunday clarified that no excess was being done with any province in water distribution. Water was being distributed among the provinces under 1991 water accord, said IRSA spokesman Muhammad Khalid Rana in a statement issued here.

He said there was a shortage of water for some days due to water shortage in the rivers. However, now the situation was under control, he added.

The spokesman said more water was provided to Sindh than Punjab province during cultivation of cotton. The Sindh has to face only 4 percent water shortage so far while Punjab province faced 16 per cent shortage.

Now water was being supplied to South Punjab for cotton and other provinces were also being given water according to their share, he said.

The spokesman said there was no plan under consideration in IRSA to set up a power house on Taunsa Panjnad Link Canal.

He said water was being provided to Punjab through Greater Thal Canal for Chashma Jhelum Link Canal.

Khalid Rana said IRSA couldn’t slash the water share of any province. Every province has its representative in the authority and without which the distribution of water could not be decided.

He said one million feet of water was available in the dams and Insha Allah, water would be provided to the provinces according to their share even at the time of rice cultivation.

The Spokesman said IRSA was providing its full share to Balochistan but Sindh was also using share of Balochistan’s water and Balochistan was facing 61 per cent water shortage. He said Sindh was also providing wrong water statistics besides exaggerating line losses. He said at present 71,000 cusecs water was being supplied to Sindh.

The spokesman said that IRSA had supplied 700,000 acre feet water to Sindh so far from Mangla dam. Sindh had also discharged 46,000 acre feet of water into the sea so far, he added.

Khalid Rana said IRSA has no role in supplying water to Karachi and this was an internal matter of the province. He said as many as 2.5 million acre feet of water has been provided to Sindh province so far in Kharif season. He said there was no dispute over Chashma Jhelum Link Canal and Taunsa Panjnad Link Canal. Punjab drew its share of water from these canals with the permission of IRSA. He said a purely technical matter was being politicized.