There is an urgent need to declare Sindh a ‘calamity-hit’ province because of an acute lack of water, according to the Sindh Chamber of Agriculture (SCA).
To get an accurate picture, it rejected the flow statistics provided by Punjab and recommended the construction of telemetry systems at barrages.
SCA members gathered on Sunday under the presidency of Miran Mohammad Shah to demand that small farmers with up to 16 acres of land have their loans forgiven.
The conference called for an investigation of a 13,000 cusecs flow shortage between Taunsa and Guddu.
Restricting water storage in Tarbela Dam and immediately releasing 125,000 cusecs of water might help safeguard Sindh’s crops to a certain extent.
According to the 1991 Water Apportionment Accord, the drought at Kotri Barrage was to be ended and supplies delivered to Sindh.
The SCA stated that 60 percent of Sindh’s barrages were experiencing water shortages, affecting millions of acres of their command area.
For next year’s sowing in Sindh, it requested that the Federal Minister for Water Resources Syed Khursheed Shah release 100,000 cusecs downstream of Chashma and guarantee that both dams have 5 million acre-feet (MAF) of storage capacity.
Chashma-Jhelum connection canal was accused of stealing Sindh’s water by Punjab. According to the report, WAPDA was the primary cause of the water deficit. Early Kharif sowing in Sindh is supposed to begin on March 1 and the dams were said to be empty at this time.
Water intended for Sindh was being diverted to WAPDA’s power plant, according to the SCA.
Tarbela’s water supply to Sindh is cut off during the winter months because of WAPDA’s flooding, which also prevents temperatures in Skardu from rising enough to melt the snow. Over 12,000 cusecs of water enter Tarbela Dam from Skardu and 6,000 cusecs from the Kabul River during this time period, totalling roughly 18,000 to 20,000 cusecs of flow.
WAPDA should not be permitted to exploit water flows for electricity generation in the upcoming early Kharif season, according to the report. There is a rotation schedule for Nara and Rohri canals, while the Rice and Dadu canals in Sukkur are still closed, according to the report. Rotation should be stopped, it was demanded.
For the sake of cultivating rice in its command region, the SCA recommended that flows be guaranteed at the Kotri barrage. It also urged for a crackdown on water thieves and the appointment of honest and qualified personnel to monitor their activities.
On May 15, the Federal Commerce Ministry authorised Sindh mango exports. This was applauded during the conference.
Zahid Bhurgari, Nabi Bux Sathio, Mohammad Khan Sarejo, Nisar Memon, Mir Abdul Karim Talpur, and others were in attendance.
Works at The Truth International Magazine. My area of interest includes international relations, peace & conflict studies, qualitative & quantitative research in social sciences, and world politics. Reach@ [email protected]
