imageISLAMABAD: Indus River System Authority (IRSA) will start closing down canals for de-silting from December 25 to January 25 under its annual closure plan for Rabi 2014-15 season.

Spokesman of IRSA Khalid Idress told APP here Tuesday that under plan, the water regulator would reduce discharges from Mangla Dam and Tarbela Dam from Dec 25.

He said that one million acres feet additional water was available in the water reservoirs this year as compare to last year.

He expressed the hope that they would be able to save sufficient water for early Kharif season if the country receive good rains in winter.

Under the plan, Kotli Barrage will be closed from Dec 25 to Jan 10 while the Sukkur Barrage will remain closed during Jan 10 to Jan 20.

Similarly, CRBC canal in Khyber-Pakhtunkwa will remain closed from Jan 1 to Jan 31.

Under the canal closure plan, Punjab's lower Jhelum canal (Mangla Command Canal) will remain closed from Dec 26 to Jan 12, and the Thall canal (Tarbela Command Canal) from Jan 13 to Jan 30.

The canals from the head Tarimu will be closed from Jan 10 to Jan 27 while the canals from Punjnad will be closed between Dec 27 and Jan 22 and Taunsa from Dec 31 to Jan 17.

Under its water discharge plan, between Dec 25 and Jan 25 the authority would release 10,000 cusecs of water from Tarbela dam and 8,000 cusecs from Mangla dam to meet the people's drinking water requirements.

Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2014

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