Federal cabinet approves removal of Punjab, Sindh members from IRSA

ISLAMABAD: The federal cabinet has approved the process of rolling heads of Punjab and Sindh’s members respectively from the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) for their failure to discharge the assigned duties, especially installation of telemetry system on the Indus Basin Irrigation System, official sources told The News.

However, it has removed the federal member Asjad Imtiaz with immediate effect, while the cabinet has also approved the proposed amendment in the IRSA Act for barring the extension of members’ tenures after three years. The World Bank had approved financing of Rs805 million for installation of telemetry system pilot project at seven different sites on the Indus Basin. The telemetry system was to be installed under PC-1 of water sector capacity building and advisory services project initiated with the help of World Bank.

The official sources said the cabinet had taken action in the light of the inquiry report compiled by the Ministry of Water Resources on the directives of the prime minister’s office. The inquiry report was initiated against three members of IRSA for blocking the process of installing the telemetry system to receive real time flow measurement data. "And in addition it has also approved the re-initiation of bidding process for installation of telemetry system on Indus Basin, ensuring the real time flow measurement data to ensure a justified and transparent water distribution among the all four federating units. Meanwhile, Wapda had been assigned to initiate and execute the telemetry project."

Under the decisions of federal cabinet, the provincial governments of Punjab and Sindh will be requested to recommend fresh nomination for their respective members.

They said the Section-4(4) of IRSA Act-1992 will be amended so that reappointment/extension of the members could be forbidden to one time for one year to obviate chances of retention of above 65 years retirees in the authority, which is, otherwise, violation of the policy instruction of the Cabinet Division issued on October 9, 2007.