KARACHI: Adviser to Sindh Chief Minister on Agriculture Manzoor Hussain Wassan has stated that the provincial government is gravely concerned about the water shortage in the province.
Wassan in a statement on Sunday accused Punjab of stealing Sindh’s water with the help of Indus River System Authority (Irsa). They want to turn Sindh into a desert by stopping its due share of water, he further alleged.
The Sindh’s advisor said water shortage in the province has reached an alarming level of 53 percent. He further said that the water level at Chamsha and Taunsa Barrages has dropped to 40,000 cusecs of water.
After agriculture and drinking water, it is now feared that water supply to industries may be affected, he said and added that due to acute water shortage, crops of cotton and sugarcane have been damaged. Wassan asked Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to take notice of the matter and ensure the provision of a due share of water to Sindh.
Earlier, Minister for Water Resources Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah, who also belongs to Wassan’s party, said that the water situation in the country will improve by June 30.
Addressing the floor of the National Assembly, Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah said Sindh is facing an acute shortage of water and hoped that situation will improve by June 30. He said the shortage in water will also be shared with the provinces accordingly.
Shah said, “We have to be united in this tough situation as the country faced the water crisis in 1951 too.”
Meanwhile, the Indus River System Authority on Friday released 119,450 cusecs of water from various rim stations with an inflow of 120,849 cases.
According to the data released by Irsa, the water level in the Jhelum River at Mangla Dam was 1,077.85 feet, which was 27.85 feet higher than its dead level of 1,050 feet whereas the inflow and outflow of water were recorded at 29,279 and 31,478 cusecs respectively.
The release of water at Kalabagh, Taunsa, and Sukkur was recorded as 73,291, 91,285, and 56,290 cases respectively. Similarly, from the Kabul River, a total of 18,500 cusecs of water was released at Nowshera, and 16,671 cusecs were released from the Chenab River at Marala.
