Sources told Dawn that Irsa objected to the formation of the committee and termed it ‘an illegal arrangement’, but had to give in at the intervention of Minister for Water and Power Syed Naveed Qamar.—File Photo

ISLAMABAD: The ministry of water and power constituted on Thursday a committee headed by the chairman of Wapda to regulate water distribution among the provinces by the Indus River System Authority – a constitutional body set up to control water allocation – as an interim arrangement to contain loadshedding.

“The minister also constituted a subcommittee comprising Irsa and provinces, under the chairmanship of Wapda chief, and asked it to submit a plan of releases from dams for the coming Rabi season,” an official statement said.

Sources told Dawn that Irsa objected to the formation of the committee and termed it ‘an illegal arrangement’, but had to give in at the intervention of Minister for Water and Power Syed Naveed Qamar as the new chairman of Irsa, Muzaffar Ali Shah representing Sindh, found himself in an awkward position on his second day in office.

Irsa was established through an act of parliament in 1991 following a landmark water apportionment accord signed by the then prime minister and the four chief ministers under the Council of Common Interests (CCI).

In its initial reaction, Irsa said it had the constitutional powers to regulate distribution of water and Wapda too was under its regulatory jurisdiction being the operational manager of dams and canals.

But the minister stated that Irsa had not been playing an effective regulatory role in managing water distribution and making the provinces submit their water indents in advance, instead of making sudden changes in their requirements that disturbed the power generation arrangement.

Irsa members and provincial representatives, however, unanimously expressed their inability to report water distribution plans seven days in advance and said the government would have to refer the matter to the CCI for making changes in relevant rules.

The sources said Irsa members were of the view that the provinces had already been directed to submit their 10-day requirements and inform about any changes five days in advance. The system is already in practice and some occasional changes are made on a short notice from the provinces.

The power ministry was upset by a sudden reduction in water indents placed by Punjab that resulted in a 500MW decrease in power generation. And, the Sindh government also told the regulator and then the ministry that it did not require irrigation water in the coming days because of recent heavy rains.

Irsa viewed that the Mangla and Tarbela reservoirs were primarily meant to meet irrigation requirements and its main responsibility was to look after the needs of the provinces. Power generation is a secondary preference and Wapda is informed five days in advance in 99 per cent of cases.

The sources said the power ministry and Wapda were, however, able to prevail upon Irsa to turn down Punjab’s request for a further reduction in discharges from Tarbela Dam because the province met its irrigation requirements from the Sutlej river.

Punjab had reduced its water indent by 8,000 cusecs to 42,000 cusecs on Wednesday and wanted to scale it down further on Thursday. Irsa agreed to continue releasing 42,000 cusecs from Tarbela for a few more days and store it in Chashma barrage till Sindh’s requirement went up.

As a result, Wapda’s hydropower generation came down from a little over 4,400MW to about 3,938MW. The ministry believed that such a sudden drop in water indents caught the power sector off guard, increasing its fuel requirements at a time when the government is already facing severe criticism for its failure to resolve financial difficulties of the energy sector and ensure sufficient fuel supplies.

According to the official statement, the minister directed Irsa that “the indents may be placed seven days in advance to Wapda for water releases from Tarbela and Mangla dams so that the generation plan may be furnished well before time as per demand and supply situation”.

The statement said the meeting was also attended by provincial irrigation secretaries, but the sources said the irrigation secretaries from Punjab and Sindh did not turn up.

The minister said the government was taking various steps to reduce power shortages in which hydropower had a major share requiring the power generation plan to be furnished on the basis of indents submitted by the provinces.