LAHORE, April 22: The Punjab on Tuesday demanded the Indus River System Authority to issue minutes of the April 9 meeting.

Officials of the Punjab Irrigation Department said a formal request in this regard would soon be on its way because a failure to do so would not only rob Irsa of its “residual credibility” by fanning fears about its intentions, but also press Pakistan into another cycle of provincial acrimony.

They also expressed apprehensions that after a strong reaction from Sindh against the consensus decision taken at the meeting, the authority was looking for “ways and means” to change it. “Any attempt in this regard will be resisted as it would worsen the already strained ties of the authority with the Punjab,” they warned.

The provincial minister for irrigation, Mr Amir Sultan Cheema, had already termed such an attempt counter-productive for the federal health of the country in his press conference on Monday.

According to the officials, the authority’s meeting on April 9 decided to distribute water in the early Kharif season — up to June 10 — according to para 14-2b of the Water Accord. It is because at that time it expected shortage during the period. Though the water planners now feel that there will be no shortages after April 25.

In case the country comes out of water scarcity during this period, para 2 of the Water Accord would become operational. But all decisions would be taken on the basis of ten-daily water consumption. The para 2 sets provincial shares according to 114 million acre feet, whereas para 14-2b calculates them on the basis of 103maf water supply. In case of water availability going beyond 114maf, para 4 would be invoked that would distribute additional water on the ratio of 37 per cent each for Punjab and Sindh, 14 per cent for the NWFP and 12 per cent for Balochistan.

They maintained that the accord protects historic usages which are calculated at 103maf availability. Only additional water could come under other paras of the accord.

The whole controversy started when Sindh expressed its desire to use water reserved for downstream of Kotri flows for agricultural purposes. In order to do so, it had to bring 2maf water into the national distribution network and share it with other provinces.

This decision of Irsa, based on a consensus that included Sindh representatives, elicited strong reaction from the provincial government. The Sindh chief minister formed a committee to look into the dynamics leading up to the decision.