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Mangla
filling begins in April: Water shortage to persist
ISLAMABAD, March 27: Projecting a water shortage between 33
per cent and 54 per cent during early Kharif, the Indus River
System Authority on Wednesday agreed to start filling Mangla
Dam from early next month and meet "reasonable (water)
requirement" of Sindh.
The filling of Mangla Dam and releases to Sindh would be made
on the basis of "existing actual average annual uses" of
1977-1982, commonly known as historic use.
A decision to this effect was taken here by the Irsa's
technical committee. Sindh had opposed the suggestion to fill
Mangla Dam from April 1, and demanded that Taunsa-Punjnad and
Chashma-Jhelum link canals should be closed till June 10.
On the positive side, overall shortages during Kharif were
projected lower than last year. Average shortages during
Kharif this year were projected at a maximum of 15 per cent
compared to 18.5 per cent last year. "This year, snowfall is
around 20 to 30 per cent higher than last year and river flow
is 3-4 times better than last year," said Mr Amanullah, Chief
Engineer Irsa, who also presided over the meeting which was
attended by chief engineers of provincial irrigation
departments.
He said: "The participants agreed on filling of Mangla Dam in
early Kharif period keeping in view the shortages in the
system, i.e., proportionate filling basis."
Mr Amanullah said that full requirement of Sindh could not be
met obviously due to shortages but its "reasonable
requirement" would be kept in mind while filling the dam. "We
cannot ignore any province and its requirements. So we would
go for optimisation both in case of filling the dam as well as
shortages," he said.
The Irsa chief engineer confirmed that Sindh had demanded
distribution of water strictly on the basis of 1991 Water
Accord. He said that 1994 decision of the inter-ministerial
committee had been annulled by Irsa on the directive of higher
authorities but there was no order from the authorities to
make an amendment to section 14 (b) of the accord.
He said both Sindh and Punjab had made separate
interpretations of 14(b) and this was the issue on which Irsa
had approached the Chief Executive Secretariat seeking an
independent interpretation.
When asked whether the relevant section could be interpreted
by Supreme Court, Mr Amanullah said: "We don't know who will
interpret this clause." Irsa cannot interpret section 14(b)
because two provinces had differences over it. Till such time,
water releases would continue on historical basis, he
explained.
To a question about Sindh's demand for TP-Link and CJ-Canal
and releases downstream Kotri, he said Irsa only allocated
provincial shares and was unanimous that further distribution
should be made by the respective provinces themselves.
The Irsa advisory committee would now meet tentatively on
April 9, to take a final decision on filling the dam and to
finalize provincial requirements during the Kharif season.
Before that, the minutes of the technical committee meeting
would be circulated to the provinces and other members of the
advisory committee.
The advisory committee meeting to be presided over by Irsa
chairman is represented by agriculture ministry, Federal Flood
Commission, Wapda and all the provinces, said Irsa Chairman
Noor Mohammad Baloch.
The technical committee meeting of Irsa was convened to
finalize water projections for Kharif-2002, i.e., from April 1
to Sept 30, 2002. Early Kharif (between April-June 10)
required more water because of sowing season and shortage
during this period is estimated between 33 per cent and 54 per
cent. The shortage during late Kharif (between June 10-Sept
30) was estimated at 7-21 per cent.
Based on these projections, the conservation level at Mangla
Dam has also been decided at 1212 feet, an Irsa statement
said. On Tuesday (March 26), around 23,000 cusecs of water was
stored at Mangla where water level has now touched 1083-feet
against its dead-end of 1040-feet.
On Thursday, Irsa would release 40,000 cusecs from Chashma
Barrage including 34,000 cusecs to Sindh and 6,000 to Punjab.
Sindh and Punjab demanded 35,000 cusecs and 8,000 cusecs
respectively.
Maximum and minimum availability during Kharif in Indus was
estimated at 41.41 million acre feet (MAF) and 30.166 MAF
respectively. In Kabul river, water availability was estimated
between 12.381 MAF and 8.177 MAF. In Jhelum and Chenab,
availability was put between 13.859 and 9.397 MAF and between
16.856 and 12.808 MAF respectively.
Courtesy Dawan March
28, 2002
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Pakissan.com;
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