The Indus River System Authority (Irsa) has approved an additional 130,000 cusecs of water on an emergency basis at the request of the Sindh government.
The Sindh government had strongly protested against IRSA’s decision to slash agricultural water quotas for the province by 30,000 cusecs.
On August 22, Adviser for Sindh CM on Agriculture, Manzoor Wassan, said that the reduction from 170,000 to 140,000 cusecs has delayed rice cultivation in Sindh.
The adviser accused the federal government of stealing water from Sindh to supply Punjab with more than its share. Now Irsa has responded to Sindh’s appeal and approved the extra water.
Sindh Irrigation Minister Jam Khan Shoro said water would be provided first where it is most needed.
On June 15, the Sindh government had denied Irsa teams’ permission to monitor the barrages in the province in reaction to the quota reduction.
Sindh Irrigation Secretary Saleem Raza expressed serious reservations over these “unilateral” teams, which were formed to monitor the flow of water at different embankments on the Indus River.
“We will not allow monitoring of barrages until the formation of impartial teams,” correspondence from Sindh read.
It urged Irsa to devise a method to measure the flow of water and identify inspection sites through consensus.
