Govt calls for CCI meeting, suspending NOC for Cholistan canal

Several months of protests, engulfing every nook and corner of Sindh, have eventually compelled the provincial government to write a letter for convening the much delayed meeting of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) to discuss the burning issue of canals construction.

The Sindh Chief Secretary Asif Hyder Shah, in a letter, not only sought a meeting of the CCI but also called for 'nullifying' the Water Availability Certificate issued by the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) for Cholistan canal.

"The Sindh province has serious reservations about the grant of the certificate by IRSA ... as the matter doesn't fall under the purview of the Water Apportionment Accord, 1991, hence beyond the scope of IRSA," the chief secretary wrote. “It has become a proven fact that currently all provinces are suffering acute water scarcity.”

He pointed out that Sindh being the lower riparian province endures over 50 per cent water shortage during early Kharif sowing seasons. "This inflicts losses worth billions of rupees on the agrarian economy of Sindh." Shah underlined that Punjab province is advocating the case of surplus water availability to build new canals.

However, he referred to the data of IRSA itself which calculated a 16.6 per cent water shortfall across the country. "... data clearly indicates that sufficient water isn't available in the system, therefore, issuance of the certificate for new canals is unjustifiable."

The chief secretary referred to para 14 (d) of the 1991 accord to contend that while a province can 'modify' the water share among existing canals, new canal systems can not be built. According to him, Punjab already possessed the irrigation network capacity to draw water from the Indus River beyond its authorised share.

Explaining Sindh's standpoint with regard to allocation for new canals during flood season the chief secretary argued that the said allocations can never be ascertained as per the accord until and unless release of the river water towards the sea in downstream Kotri barrage is finalised. "The International Panel of Experts (IPOE) in its report recommended the minimum flows of 8.6 million acre feet (MAF) [in the sea] annually but the same has not been implemented as yet."

As a consequence, the river downstream Kotri remains dry during most parts of the year, destroying the Indus delta as a result. He compared water discharge figures from 1976 to 1998 and from 1999 to 2022 to point out that the average annual discharge in the downstream Kotri towards the sea reduced by 26.67 MAF.

He maintained that the meagre quantum which somehow reached to the last engineering structure on river will become nil after completion of the ongoing 11.93 MAF projects like Bhasha dam, Mohmand Dam, Kurram Tangi dam and other projects. Shah also drew attention towards climate change and the transboundary interventions which are already reducing the river flow.

The chief secretary specified that the average inflows of the western rivers in Pakistan 135.582 MAF from 1976 to 1998 but the same have shown a reduction by more than 14 MAF to 120.79 MAF from 1999 to 2022. Shah said irrigation 610,000 acres of land through Cholistan canal will also affect farmers in the command area of Qadirabad barrage in Punjab. He said to meet the shortage in Qadirabad's command area, more water will be drawn from the Indus.

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council in its meeting on February 7, 2024, had made it mandatory to seek approval from the CCI and build consensus among the provinces for the irrigation projects being constructed under the Development of National Irrigation Network for Green Pakistan Initiative. "The decision of the IRSA for issuance of the NOC prior to the provinces' consensus on the project and approval by the CCI is against the spirit of the decision of ECNEC as well."

The chief secretary recalled that the Sindh government on July 19, 2024, wrote letters to all stakeholders in the CCI to share their comments on the contentious issue. According to him, the federal ministries of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives as well as the Water Resources besides Balochistan and KPK government responded to that letter. However, despite three reminders from August to October, 2024, Punjab government's response is still awaited.