SUKKUR, June 9: An acute water shortage is prevailing at the Sukkur Barrage and its off-taking seven canals are facing 47 per cent shortage of water. The shortage is said to be the most acute as compared to the last several years.
There will be 50 per cent reduction in the cultivation of paddy, if the situation remained unchanged. Talking to this correspondent on Wednesday, an official the irrigation department said that the reason for the acute shortage was said that Tarbella had reached at 1365 feet which was its dead level.
The official said that in this season the level of Tarbella should have been 1,550 feet which had reduced to the level of 1,365 feet. He said that the inflow at Tarbella was 132,300 cusecs and outflow was 140,000 cusecs but the water discharged from the dam would take 12 days to reach the Sukkur Barrage.
At present, 45 per cent shortage is prevailing in the Rice canal due to which agriculture lands are affected badly while 40 per cent shortage has occurred in the Nara canal.
Whereas the Rohri canal, NWC canal, Dadu canal, Khairpur Feeder-I and Khairpur Feeder-II are running to 50 per cent short of their capacity. The upstream at the Sukkur Barrage was recorded 60,000 cusecs and downstream was only 30,000 cusecs.
The situation will remain the same till the inflow of Tarbella is not increased.At the Guddu Barrage upstream was recorded at 84,000 cusecs, while downstream was 64,000 cusecs and at the Kala Bagh upstream was recorded 137,951 cusecs and downstream 122,932.
The agriculture experts claimed that the sowing of the Kharif crop was already late by 15 days due to the shortage of water and if the situation remained unchanged it will be hazardous for the Kharif crop in Sindh.
Adds M.B. Kalhoro from Larkana: Growers are fearing losses in the wake of an acute shortage of water in the Rice canal, Dadu canal and N.W. canal. Sources in the irrigation department told this correspondent on Wednesday that the water level in the Rice canal should be 14 feet in this season but there was only six feet and five inch water in it.
The water level in the Dadu canal should have been 14 feet and five inches but there is a flow of nine feet and two inches. The N.W. canal is flowing at 10 feet and three inches against its capacity of 14 feet and three inches.
This clearly speaks the degree of shortage of irrigation water in Sindh's paddy belt, they said. Sindh Abadgar Board vice chairman Gada Hussain Mahisar said that the supply of water had been delayed for one and a half month.
He said that minimally 25 days were required to prepare paddy seedlings to be transplanted in the fields but no nurseries had yet been prepared due to the water shortage.
Mr Mahisar feared a pest attack if transplantation was further delayed. He said that peasants were worried about the future of rice production in the belt. It might be mentioned that alone in Larkana district paddy was sown on some 500,000 acres land against total two million acres in Sindh.
Former advisor on agriculture Khuda Dino Chandio said that the Saifullah Magsi branch that irrigated most of the land in Shahdadkot and Qubo Saeed Khan area was flowing with only three inches gauge.
He said that the situation was almost depressing as watercourses were empty in the area. He said that growers could hardly prepare nurseries for rice cultivation and those who did it on tube wells were waiting for irrigation water to come for transplantation. Mr Chandio said that the paddy seedlings were dying in the command area of the Saifullah Magsi branch.
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