Murad wants smaller provinces to operate major dams

Chief minister says Wapda no more a trustworthy federal entity to ensure

fair distribution of irrigation water

Warning of a severe water crisis for Sindh’s farmers in the approaching summer, the chief minister has demanded that smaller provinces (Sindh and Balochistan) should operate the major dams of the country.

CM Syed Murad Ali Shah said the Water & Power Development Authority (Wapda) was no more a trustworthy federal entity to ensure fair distribution of irrigation water in the country.

“We’re no longer going to believe the Wapda officials, as they’re not even under the control of their federal ministers: on the one hand the ministers give us assurances on our issues, but on the other, their actions are in complete contradiction,” Shah told a news conference at the CM House on Tuesday.

He said that handing over the operations of major dams to the smaller provinces would be well in accordance with the international norms for distribution of water resources, as the rights of the people in the lower riparian had always been fulfilled on a preferential basis.

He added that the farmers of his province were going to face a severe shortage in the upcoming kharif season, as the Mangla and Tarbela dams would reach their dead level by the month-end and such a phenomenon was going to occur for the first time in the country.

He estimated that the farmers would face up to 50 per cent shortage of irrigation water for their crops in the upcoming cultivation season, but the provincial authorities would adopt the best methods to conserve and ration water to overcome the shortage.

The chief executive said the growers would mostly suffer due to the looming water crisis in the country due to “sheer mismanagement and unjust operation of the two major dams by the federal authorities”.

He said that some two years ago the operation of the major dams had continued despite severe water shortage to fill the dams as compared to the present status of water.

This time round the federal authorities did not act in a timely manner to fill up the dams when the water supply continued and instead they kept on operating link canals to supply water to other provinces more than their due share, he claimed.

He added that the continued operation of link canals at the cost of filling up the major dams was an unjust act on the part of the federal authorities in violation of the Water Accord of 1991.

CM Shah reiterated that the Sindh government had always demanded that the Mangla Dam be filled up on preferential basis when the water was available in the rivers, as the water stored in the dam would be beneficial for the province’s farmers in the lower riparian.

He said that as the first emergency step he would immediately write to the federal authorities to remind them of their obligations for fair distribution of water among provinces in accordance with the water accord.

He would then direct Sindh’s irrigation authorities to prepare a comprehensive case regarding due water rights of the province that should be forwarded to the Centre to be taken up at any of the forthcoming sessions of the Council of Common Interests.

He hoped that the federal government would listen to and understand the water issues of Sindh and take the required measures for fair distribution of irrigation water among the smaller provinces.

He also hoped that the grievances of the smaller provinces regarding their due water rights would be resolved within the framework of the Constitution, and that neither of the provincial governments would need to take any extraordinary step, such as moving the apex judiciary, to resolve the issues.

The chief executive said his government would continue to raise the issues whenever it was felt that the due legitimate interests of Sindh’s people were not being fulfilled.

He said the federal authorities should get their act together as far as their dealings with provinces were concerned so that the due constitutional rights of the people of the smaller provinces could be fulfilled.

He added that besides the water issue, the Centre had also acted in an unfair manner as regards the electricity issues of Sindh, adding that on the one hand the federal authorities had rescinded the power purchase agreement and letter of intent issued for the power project built by the Sindh government at Nooriabad, but on the other, the transmission line was not being provided to utilise the electricity to be generated by the wind-based energy projects of the province.

Shah claimed that the federal government was bent upon constructing new power projects in the upcountry to be run on LNG and coal imported from abroad, which would always be an expensive proposition for power generation.

Instead, he said, the federal authorities should rely on coal reserves available in abundance in Sindh, whose exploitation would generate sufficient electricity to fulfil the national energy requirements.

Owing to such unjust and unfair energy policies of the federal government, said the CM, Sindh had established its own power transmission and despatch company, adding that in the near future the provincial authorities would commence power distribution to new residential localities.

He concluded that his government would establish small-scale solar-based energy projects to provide electricity to remote areas with the help of alternative resources of power generation.