CM vents his ire at IRSA

HYDERABAD:

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has again blamed the Centre for unfair water sharing in the face of the prevailing water shortage in the country's rivers and dams.

Shah said on Saturday in Jamshoro district that the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) is not distributing water judiciously.

"If there is a natural scarcity of water, then it [the shortfall] should be justly divided in the country."

IRSA claims that the rivers and the dams are running dry and that it has slashed shares of all the provinces. However, Sindh maintains that the province is not even getting its reduced share of water.

The CM said that the province is facing 25% more shortfall in the ongoing season in comparison to last year.

He said that he would meet the Federal Irrigation Minister Syed Khurshid Shah, who belongs to the CM's political party, to discuss the water situation and ask him to ensure fair distribution.

The CM advised farmers to avoid cultivating rice which is a water intensive crop in view of the shortage.

Separately, the Sindh irrigation minister Jam Khan Shoro said the water shortfall in Sindh has increased to 50% in May from 42% which was recorded in the month of April.

He also held IRSA responsible for the unfair distribution. Another provincial minister, Syed Nasir Shah, said whenever the province demanded its due share of water, they are criticized for fanning the flames of provincialism.

He said Sindh is not asking to cut the share of any other province to meet its demand, but the lower riparian province only wanted its own due share.

Water theft

Meanwhile, protests continued in several cities, towns and villages of Sindh, decrying the government's failure to efficiently manage the shortfall.

The farmers also blamed influential farmers for stealing whatever scarce quantity is left in the waterways. Giving credence to such reports about rampant water theft by influential farmers, an Area Water Board (AWB) of Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority (SIDA) has sought the help of rangers to curb the stealing. In a letter to Commissioner Hyderabad Nadeemur Rehman Memon, Director Left Bank Canals AWB Ghulam Mujtaba Dhamrah complained that the irrigation is being threatened and harassed by the water thieves.

"… [influential farmers] are getting forcibly unauthorised water on their will by lifting water through illegal pipelines, machines and tampering of the modules [and] by harassing and threatening the lower staff of various [irrigation] subdivision," reads the letter dated April 6.

He pointed out that the said theft is depriving the tail end farmers of their water rights.

"The culprits are creating hindrances and problems in implementation of the [water supply] rotation programme as they forcibly open the closed water channels."

According to him, the officials who remove the illegal water connections are threatened and attacked.

He pointed out an incident in Kadhan area of Badin district in which an assistant executive engineer faced a quarrel.

"FIRs have also been lodged in various police stations of Badin district but no arrest has been made with the result that the law and order situation is worsening day by day."

The AWB's Director urged the commissioner to request Sindh Director General Rangers to deploy rangers along the waterways at the earliest so that equitable water distribution can be ensured.