Parched barrages: Kharif sowing could be delayed due to water shortage

Situation expected to improve in a few days as more snow melts.

SUKKUR: Water shortage is a perennial issue in Pakistan and this year is no different. In Sindh, all three barrages are facing acute water shortage which could very well delay the sowing of Kharif crops in some parts of both upper and lower Sindh.

Giving a briefing about the overall water position in the province, Sukkur Barrage control room in-charge Abdul Aziz Soomro said that as per the measurements taken today the Sukkur Barrage is being provided 25,700 cusecs against its allocation of 44,700 cusecs, thereby causing a shortfall of 43 per cent.

Similarly, he said that the Kotri Barrage is getting 8,152 cusecs instead of 21,700 cusecs and thus the shortfall is around 62 per cent. Guddu Barrage is facing much graver situation as the shortage is a massive 83 per cent. Guddu Barrage, he said, is receiving only 2,000 cusecs as opposed to 15,300 cusecs.

Soomro informed that two of the three off taking canals of Guddu Barrage, Ghotki Feeder and B.S.Feeder, have been closed due to the water scarcity while the third, Pat Feeder, is providing 2,000 cusecs to Balochistan. On the other hand, Dadu canal on the right pocket of Sukkur Barrage had to be closed while those on the left pocket, which feed parts of lower Sindh, are functional, he added. Soomro explained that this is because lower Sindh has an early Kharif season and that’s why water is being released on a priority basis while peasants in upper Sindh don’t need the water immediately as the sowing season starts relatively late here.

Soomro sounded optimistic that the situation will improve in a few days. “The situation will start improving within a couple of days as the ice melting has increased in Skardu due to the rise in temperature. It will improve further by June.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 24^th, 2013.