LAHORE, Oct 7: The Punjab on Monday took exception to the Indus River System Authority move of linking water supply to Katchi Canal with the Mangla dam, and said Irsa was not authorized to do so under the Water Accord..

In reply to the Irsa letter, the Punjab stated that for the first time supply to a canal had been linked to a particular dam.

“The Irsa is supposed to work under the Water Accord 91. It can issue water certificate from future storages but cannot name a particular storage in the certifications. By doing so, it is planting the seeds of discontent and friction among the provinces.

“The Irsa must reword the certification by writing ‘any future storages’ rather than Mangla dam.

“In addition to lack of authority, the Irsa must also not forget that feeding Katchi canal from the Mangla dam is practically impossible. Water released from Mangla goes to Trimmu barrage on Chenab: from there it flows down to the Panjnad barrage before joining river Indus at Mithankot — some 100 miles downstream Taunsa. How this water can be taken 100 miles upstream to feed Katchi canal is anybody’s guess,” the reply said.

An official of the Punjab Irrigation department said the Irsa could not name a particular dam for the water certification. “If water supply to Kachi canal is linked to the raising of Mangla dam alone, what will happen if the dam is not raised for some reasons. There are many other options before the government in place of Mangla dam; Akhori dam and Bhasha dam are two of them. Will Blochistan be forced to shut down the Katchi canal. Of course, it should not be the case. Precisely for this reason, the Irsa should not link water supply to the canal to the raised Mangla.”

The Punjab, he said, had always argued that Mangla dam was built only as a replacement to compensate its loss of three eastern rivers. The Punjab agreed to Mangla raising only when the government agreed to tag it “replacement” of lost capacity to silting up of the dam rather than calling it a “development” — meaning thereby an additional storage. The Irsa certification flies directly in the face of official position of the government of Pakistan under which groundbreaking ceremony of the dam was held last weak.

“The Irsa is attempting to put the name of raised Mangla dam in the certification, knowingly that the transfer of water was not possible. When water transfer from Mangla would be impossible, the Punjab would then be forced to swap Mangla water with its share from Tarbela. If this happens, it may harm the federation in the long run,” he said.