Islamabad
The fresh spell of monsoon rains has reduced the country’s water shortage to 5% only and it is likely to end in 10 days, helping in bringing an end to the dispute between Sindh and Punjab over water.
Water flow in rivers has increased to 200,000 cusecs. The discharge from Chashma Barrage has increased by 10,000 cusecs from 160,000 to 170,000 cusecs.
The water shortage in the canals of Sindh will end in eight to 10 days. The inflow of water in Indus River at Tarbela is 156,000 cusecs.
The flow of water in Kabul River at Nowshera is 34,000 cusecs. The inflow of water in the Jhelum River at Mangla is 40,000 cusecs. The inflow of water at Marala in Chenab River is 67,000 cusecs.
The water storage in the dams is 2.85 million acre feet. Tarbela Dam could fill if rains continue as usual. However, Mangla Dam will not be able to fill even this year. Sources said Mangla Dam had a storage capacity of 7.3 million acre feet.
The dam currently has 1.9 million acre feet of water. Tarbela Dam has a storage capacity of 5.8 million acre feet. It currently has 800,000 acre feet of water.
Earlier a sitting Sindh minister demanded a judicial inquiry into the provision of less water to the province than its allotted quota by the Indus River System Authority (Irsa), which led to water shortage there.
Provincial Agriculture Minister Ismail Rahu, held federal government responsible for committing for ‘such a great injustice to Sindh’ and for the ‘destruction of the agriculture’ in the province.
Responding to a question about the complaints raised by Balochistan, the minister said that water share of Balochistan had not been stolen by Sindh, rather the federal government was responsible for the scarcity of water.
Besides Sindh, the minister said, water shortage also existed in Khyber Pakhtunkwa and South Punjab but no one was holding asking questions to Irsa about it.
‘Government spokesmen are lying about providing surplus water to Sindh,’ he charged. According to the provincial agricultural minister the federal government did not help the farmers.
‘The farmer has been destroyed by this government,’ he said, warning that loss to the farmers would increase unemployment in the country. Criticising the federal government, he said, that all institutions had been taken hostage.
