ISLAMABAD, March 27: The Indus River System Authority (Irsa) on Monday directed the Punjab Irrigation Department to release 3,500 cusecs water daily from the Punjnad Headworks to compensate Sindh and Balochistan for utilising higher than allocated share.

The Punjab irrigation authorities “have agreed to release 3,500 cusecs of water by closing its canals at Punjnad Headworks,” an Irsa announcement said here on Monday.

The controversy over utilisation of water by the Punjab in excess of its allocated share emerged about a week ago when the Punjab started drawing about 6,000 cusecs per day from the Indus system.

The sources said the Irsa had asked the Punjab on March 16 not to draw water from the system as its allocated share had expired on March 15. However, Punjab kept on drawing water from Thal and Dera Ghazi Khan canals.

Punjab irrigation authorities contended that they had not utilised their full share as the Thal Canal was closed because of the ongoing rehabilitation work of the Chashma Barrage and many areas in canal command required last watering.

Punjab authorities also claimed that Sindh had used more than its allocated share. They said that Punjab still had not used about 0.21 million-acre feet of its water share from the Indus system, adding that they still had about 0.9 MAF of their water share from Indus and Jhelum-Chenab systems.

On March 23, Punjab once again ignored Irsa when it asked the province to stop drawing water from the Indus system. Subsequently, the Irsa wrote a letter to the federal secretary for water and power to intervene into the matter as Sindh and Balochistan were being denied their allocated share.