ISLAMABAD, May 21: The Indus River System Authority (Irsa) increased provincial water shares on Tuesday to help the provinces speed up crop sowing.

An Irsa official said the share of Sindh had been increased by 25,000 cusecs — from 70,000 to 95,000 — and Punjab’s by 15,000 cusecs — from 109,000 to 124,000. Punjab’s share from Indus Zone has been raised from 32,000 to 43,000 cusecs.

Likewise, Balochistan’s share has been enhanced by 4,000 cusecs — from 7000 to 11,000. But Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s share has not been changed and remains at 3,000 cusecs.

To supply more water to the provinces, Irsa has increased discharges from Chashma Barrage from 98,000 to 136,000 cusecs and from Tarbela Dam from 50,000 to 70,000 cusecs. But, discharges from Mangla dam have been reduced from 42,000 to 38,000 cusecs.

Irsa has also decided to review provincial water requirements on a daily basis and make adjustments in their share accordingly.

The official said on Tuesday that water level at Tarbela dam was recorded at 1,390 feet against its dead level of 1,378 feet as its inflows increased to 73,700 cusecs and outflows stood at 70,000 cusecs.

Water level at Mangla was recorded at 1,109 feet against its dead level of 1,040 feet.

Total inflows at rim stations were recorded at about 255,000 cusecs against 175,000 cusecs of last week as rising temperatures have led to snow melting on mountains and subsequently enhanced flows into rivers.