SAB asks IRSA for water share

KARACHI: The Sindh Abadgar Board (SAB) held a meeting to discuss sudden and substantial reduction in the water released by Indus River System Authority (IRSA) to the province at a juncture when groundwater resources were low and paddy sowing was underway, a statement said on Monday.

Mahmood Nawaz Shah, Dr Zulfiqar Yousfani, Syed Nadeem Shah, Aslam Mari, Imran Ali Bozdar and others attended the meeting. SAB said the water available in dams was 10.195 MAF, and in addition there was an inflow of 220,900 cusecs in the rivers. In this situation, the water should have been released from dams to compensate for any shortage in the rivers.

“The very purpose of the dam is to use it when there is fluctuation in flows and utilise water when it is required. Currently, when it has not rained in Sindh, the underground water is not available as much as it was available in Punjab, reducing water to Sindh would have widespread negative impact,” the meeting said.

Growers said IRSA should not take any decision, which harmed one province. It is important to note that Sindh has already suffered from the late arrival of water and as a consequence rice sowing was delayed.

SAB demanded IRSA to immediately restore water by releasing the precious resource from dams, which would help avoid the huge losses currently threatening the agricultural economy of Sindh.