LAHORE: Punjab has accused Sindh of claiming more than its share of river water and underreporting water measurements at its reservoirs and wrongly blaming others for the situation.

“Sindh has drawn 3.560 million acre feet (MAF) against its allocated share of 2.773 MAF during the period from April 1 to May 20, 2024, which is 20 per cent more than its due share allocated by the Irsa (Indus River System Authority) for the whole kharif 2024 season,” said a spokesperson for the Punjab Irrigation Department on Friday.

Even on May 31, the maximum share of Sindh under the Water Apportionment Accord was 98,700 cusecs whereas it had placed its indent of 140,000 cusecs, and against this demand, Irsa was releasing 190,000 cusecs which was more than double the actual share of Sindh, he added.

“This clearly indicates that Sindh is not only drawing irrigation supplies above its due share but is also enjoying the full requirements of its canals as per its desire,” said the spokesperson.

Punjab ‘regrets’ that the province is underreporting its water measurements

He pointed out that due to the shortage of supplies, Irsa had planned zero flows downstream Kotri Barrage till June 2024. However, after meeting its canal water requirements, Sindh has released 0.062 MAF or 32,000 cusecs below Kotri so far in clear violation of the decision taken by the Irsa Advisory Committee (IAC) on April 2.

Responding to Sindh’s objections to the operations of Chashma-Jhelum and Taunsa-Panjnad Link Canals, the spokesperson said the IAC had decided that the surplus supplies of Indus zone would be utilised to facilitate the filling of Mangla dam.

“Thus Irsa is operating both Tarbela and Mangla reservoirs and link canals strictly in accordance with the IAC decision. Irsa has already explained that it’s only using excessive flows available in Tarbela reservoir to fulfil Punjab’s water share.”

He said that Chashma-Jhelum and Taunsa-Panjnad link canals were being operated within the parameters set by clause 14(d) of the Water Apportionment Accord 1991 using Punjab’s share.

The spokesperson claimed that increasing water losses in Taunsa-Guddu reach were solely due to underreporting of discharges at Sindh barrages. Underreporting of water discharges had been found “scores” of times in the past and the practice is going on unabated, he lamented.

Discharge measurements at 220km Taunsa-Chachran reach in Punjab by the Pakistan Council of Research in Water Resources (PCRWR) on May 22 showed very unusual loss of 1pc, whereas losses in 310km Taunsa-Guddu reach based on the reported discharge by respective provincial irrigation departments are in the range of 12 to 30pc.

Therefore, both flow measurements at Taunsa and Chachran by the PCRWR are doubtful and need clarification from the body, he said.

He pointed out that the flow measurement mission making actual discharge observations at various points in the Indus basin irrigation system under the project of Installation of Telemetry System had found that discharges downstream of Taunsa Barrage at Chachran Bridge on April 23 and 25 were the same as reported by Punjab.

The actual discharge measurements done by various independent teams during 2022 and 2023 revealed that Punjab had been reporting discharges very correctly at all of its barrages, including Taunsa Barrage, he added.

The spokesperson further said that shortages in supply as claimed by Sindh were self-induced due to underreporting at Sindh barrages, witnessed by various independent joint discharge measurements teams during the years 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023 and 2024, in the range of 10 to 12pc.

He demanded the authorities concer-ned take notice of the underreporting so that the share of other provinces may be protected.

Published in Dawn, June 1st, 2024