HYDERABAD: Leader of the Opposition in Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh has said that Sindh and all other provinces are getting their due share of water as per Water Accord 1991.

Rejecting claims that injustice was being committed in water distribution, he said the issue of water should not be politicised, arguing that “Sindh doesn’t share correct statistics” in this regard.

He was speaking at the ‘Dialogue on Water Issues, Shortage in Sindh’ at the local press club, organised by the Sindh Agriculture Research Council (SARC) on Friday.

At outset, SARC’s Ali Palh discussed overall water shortage situation in Sindh and showed documentaries of protests by farmers in different areas. He said that tail-end farmers suffered badly while influential people got unchecked flows.

Haleem Adil said water should be equally distributed in Sindh and no one should be discriminated against. He said tail-end farmers should be provided their flows of water.

If water of Sindh was stolen he would fight for it provided such theft was proven, he said, adding that mere allegations should not be levelled against the federal government or Punjab.

He said he had seen water-lifting machines during his visits to Kandhkot and Kashmore and Ghotki. Calling for depoliticising water issue, he said it was neither his personal issue that he visited the entire Sindh nor that he was interested in contesting election from Larkana.

Direct outlets (DOs) could only be operated if tail-end reaches were getting water, but if DOs were being provided water and tail ends deprived of water, it was a crime and that crime was being committed in Sindh, he added.

Mr Sheikh said that reports of 321 DOs allowed between 2008-2014 period were there and the irrigation department owned reports that indicated that DOs got 386pc more water than sanctioned through their tampered modules.

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) sought to end that inequality in water distribution, he said and vowed that he would get Sindh’s share of water from the federal government. But this year rainfall had been affected and water flows remained inadequate in the river system and temperature had dropped in Skardu, affecting snow melting, he explained.

He said inadequate water flows in the river system led to shortage, but now situation had been controlled and provinces were getting their share of water as per the water accord.

He said he was representing the federal government right now and read out from a written text to share what he said was factual position on water distribution. Sindh was provided water for cotton cultivation, he added.

He said Punjab bore 21pc and Sindh 20pc shortage. Now southern Punjab was being provided water for cotton sowing which was earlier denied to it. He categorically said there was no plan of building powerhouse on Taunsa-Panjnad (TP) link canal.

Punjab was getting water for Greater Thal Canal (GTC) through Chashma-Jhelum (CJ) link canal. The Indus River System Authority (Irsa) could not lessen any province’s share in water as all provinces had their representatives in Irsa which took decision either through consensus or voting.

He said water would be provided to the provinces for paddy sowing. Currently 0.1MAF water was available in dams. Sindh was not sharing correct figures which should be corrected.

He said Balochistan also raised its issue of water, adding that currently 130,000 cusecs of water was being provided at Guddu upstream. Sindh was provided 900,000 acre feet water from Mangla Dam and Sindh had released 70,000 cusecs of water for sea.

He discussed three-tier formula for water distribution which Sindh objects to. Under this formula if 114MAF water is available then 37pc flows each would be provided to Sindh and Punjab, 12pc to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 14pc to Balochistan.

If flows remained less than that quantum, the provinces were to meet that shortage through storages which they must have already built. But, he said, if 114MAF water was unavailable, historical uses of water between 1971-1982 would

be taken as benchmark for distribution. He wrongly quoted 1971-1982 period, which is 1977-82 under the three-tier formula that Sindh outrightly rejects.

Haleem said 1991 Water Accord was not being violated and the federal government did not believe in its violation. He said stronger provinces meant strong Pakistan. He said injudicious distribution through machines with the help of police needed to be curbed.

Almost all growers who arrived from Ghotki, Umerkot, Mirpurkhas, Tando Allahyar shared their stories of suffering due to injudicious water distribution.

Ajmal Solangi from Ghotki said influential people got water while the poor suffered. He said the irrigation department had become a mafia, adding that incompetent people were sitting at the helm of affairs.

Sindh Chamber of Agriculture vice president Nabi Bux Sathio and growers’ leader from Badin, Fayyaz Rashdi, said that water distribution should be done on ‘need basis’ instead of ‘majority’ decision.

They called for closure of link canals and added that link canals were to be provided water from head Marala instead of Indus. Rashdi shared water shortage figures.

Prof Ismail Kumbhar discussed unchecked abstraction of groundwater. He said water shortage was leading to rural-urban migration. He called for land use policy in Sindh.

Published in Dawn, July 3rd, 2021