The CCI had decided to allocate about 400 cusecs of water to meet drinking needs in Rawalpindi and Islamabad.—File photo

ISLAMABAD: Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have expressed reservations over a recent decision of the Council of Common Interests to allocate about 400 cusecs of water from their daily irrigation share to meet drinking needs in Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

On the other hand, the CCI decided that all the four provinces would give up 50 cusecs each from their shares to shoulder Islamabad's water requirements.

Interestingly, the two provinces were part of the CCI meeting at the highest political level when it decided equal sharing by provinces of additional water supplies for Islamabad, an official told Dawn.

He said while the KPK leadership had put its viewpoint on record during the meeting not to accept any loss in its net hydel profit share owing to additional water supplies, the Sindh government had not agreed to give up 50 cusecs of water from its share for Islamabad.

The circulation of minutes of the meeting have, however, worried the Sindh government.

According to the minutes, the matter would not get back to the CCI and all provinces would honour providing of 50 cusecs each of water to Islamabad.

However, the decision did not go well with the Sindh government.

Informed sources said Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani had asked water and power minister Syed Naveed Qamar, who himself hails from Sindh, to use his influence in persuading the provincial government to share a minor responsibility with other provinces.

Mr Qamar, said the sources, had yet to hold talks with the Sindh government over the issue and would perhaps constitute a committee to resolve the matter without going back to the CCI.

The Sindh government, the sources said, had conveyed to the centre that water allocation for Islamabad should not be adjusted against joint pool and it would like to have more discussions on the subject.

The sources said the KPK had already made it clear to the CCI that in case of reduction in its net hydel profit share as a result of the decline in hydropower generation from Tarbela dam because of an additional 400 cusecs of water the allocation per day for Islamabad and Rawalpindi would not be acceptable and the centre will have to take responsibility for this financial loss.

The sources said that despite the CCI decision, it was not yet clear who would regulate or monitor 400 cusecs of additional water supplies from the Indus River to the twin cities and what would be the mechanism for reduced water sharing given the fact that water shares for all provinces were clearly fixed.

In all likelihood, the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) will have to expand its role for accounting purposes of water to be supplied to the twin cities, the sources said, but it would require a separate gazette notification for its implementation.