Govt denies plan to amend IRSA Act

Minister tells Senate allies will be consulted on law

ISLAMABAD:

The government denied on Tuesday that there was any legislation in process to amend the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) Act, holding out an assurance that all the coalition partners would be taken into confidence before enacting any law.

Federal Minister Musadik Malik, while responding to a calling attention notice from Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) lawmakers, told the upper house of parliament that a draft proposal had been received from Irsa itself, which carried the signature of its member from Sindh.

Earlier, the calling attention notice – from Sherry Rehman, Zamir Ghumro, Jam Saifullah, Poonjo Bheel and Sarmad Ali – was moved in the Senate against the proposed changes in the Irsa Act.

While presenting the notice, PPP senators delivered hard-hitting speeches, describing water as a matter of life and death for Sindh.

They warned of widespread concern in the province over the reported changes to the act, stating that such amendments would amount to an attack on provincial rights.

"No such law has come yet," Malik told the house, while responding to the notice. "Every law will be approved by the [two] houses [of parliament] and the allies in the government will be consulted on every legislation," he added.

Malik explained that a paper had been submitted by Irsa, which had been signed by all its members, including Sindh member Ahsan Leghari. "The draft has just arrived and it has not been moved forward, the minister added.

"The draft is about installing telemetry system and it discusses the adoption of scientific methods for water distribution," he said, adding that the matter would be brought to the house and nothing will be done without consultation with the allies. There is no question of dispute."

Malik said that every year, instead of 8.6 million acres feet (MAF) of water, 18 million MAF water went to the sea. However, one of the movers of the notice, Ghumro, disputed the data provided by the minister, saying that the figures were incorrect.

Ghumro stated that Irsa Act ensured water distribution among the provinces but attempts were being made to change its composition and the Council of Common Interests (CCI) and the provincial governments were being bypassed in this matter.

Earlier, Senator Rehman said the proposed changes to the Irsa Act would be an attack on provincial rights. "There is a plan to bring Irsa under the federal government," she said, adding that the proposed amendments were against the Constitution.

She said that there was severe shortage of water in Thatta and Badin districts and warned that the risk of water shortage in Sindh would increase. She added that a resolution had already been submitted in the Sindh Assembly against the amendments to the Irsa Act.

Jam Saifullah, another sponsor of the notice, said that water was only released into the sea during floods. He explained that Sindh experiences five years of drought followed by flooding. Currently, he added, one million acres of land across seven or eight districts are affected by water shortages.