Sindh Irrigation Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said on Sunday that the 44 megawatt power project was not feasible technically. He pointed out that last year the canal remained closed for 171 days.

Talking to journalists at the Chehlum of Abdul Jalil Memon, the minister said Nepra had unlawfully issued a licence for the power project, and the Sindh government had moved an application seeking reversal of the decision.

The minister said that the people of Sindh would not accept the project. He said that Sindh was facing an acute water shortage, and people living downstream Kotri had right to get adequate quantity of Indus water. Non-release of at least 10MAF water downstream Kotri per year would eventually ruin coastal areas, he added.

He said that a high-level committee had been constituted to change the design of the Right Bank Outfall Drain and it would start functioning soon.

Sindh Minister for Culture Sassui Palijo said that by usurping the water share of Sindh, Punjab was undermining the federal system and provoking a conflict over water.

Talking to reporters in Gharo, she said Pakistan would not be able to face neighbouring India on the issue of water when its main federating unit was refusing to give Sindh its due share of water.

Ms Palijo warned that the people of Sindh would not allow construction of any power project on the controversial Chashma-Jhelum canal.

She said Nepra, Punjab and the federal government must scrap the project; otherwise the people of Sindh would start believing that Punjab did not want to keep federation united.

She said that because of injudicious distribution of water by the Indus River System Authority, the shortage in Sindh had reached almost 70 per cent.

STRIKE CALL The Awami Tahreek has called for a strike throughout Sindh on Feb 19 in protest against the proposed power plant on Chashma-Jhelum link canal, construction of Greater Thal Canal and dams, target killings in Karachi and increase in prices of petroleum products and gas and electricity tariff.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the central committee of the party in Hyderabad on Friday and Saturday.Talking to journalist, AT president Ayaz Latif Palijo accused Punjab of having stolen the Indus river water over the past 150 years.

Now, he said, a power plant was being constructed on the Chashma-Jhelum link canal and work was also proceeding at a hectic pace on the Greater Thal Canal. At the same time, the president was talking about building more dams. Mr Palijo said experts believed that there was not enough water in the system and if these water projects were built, fertile land of Sindh would become barren.

In Dadu, political leaders and growers have criticised the plan for the water plant.

Former federal minister for water and power Liaquat Ali Jatoi said that the plant would severely reduce the water share of Sindh. He said that agriculture of Sindh had already been affected by a shortage of water.

Mr Jatoi said that the federal government should not allow construction of the plant. He demanded release of Sindh's full share of water.

Minister of State for Food and Agriculture Rafique Ahmed Jamali said he would request Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and President Asif Ali Zardari to take notice of Sindh's concerns over the power plant.

District president of Sindh Chamber of Agriculture Ghulam Ali Shahani said that barrages and canals of Sindh were not getting their share of water.

He said that due to shortage of water, the Indus river bed at Kotri downstream had dried up.

He said that the shortage had affected supply of drinking water to millions of people in the region of downstream Kotri.

He warned of a farmers' movement if the power plant was constructed.

District president of Sindh Abadgar Association Mohammad Omer Jamali said that the plant would severely damage Sindh's economy.