Sindh’s water requirements fulfilled

Karachi

Sindh’s water requirements had now been fulfilled, as the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) had released water for Sindh’s barrages, said Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Qaim Ali Shah while addressing media representatives on Thursday at the Karachi Press Club (KPC).

Shah said Guddu Barrage’s requirement of 170,000 cusecs of water and Sukkur Barrage’s 135,000 cusecs had been met. Since Sukkur Barrage also provides water to Balochistan, the chief minister said, as many as 2,200 cusecs of water would be now released for Balochistan. Similarly, 4,000 cusecs of water had been released for Kotri downstream for the first time.

Expressing concern over the reopening of the Chashma-Jhelum (CJ) Link Canal, Shah said that he would ask Irsa to reconsider its decision as there was no provision for sharing water from the River Indus for the CJ Link Canal as per the Water Accord of 1991.

The CM said that water shortage in Sindh this year was the worst during the last 10 years, and adversely affected the cotton crop and the sowing of paddy crop. He said that there were certain areas in the province where potable water was not even available, while last year’s estimated showed that around 2.1 million acres of land had been destroyed by sea intrusion in Badin and Thatta districts.

Shah said that he had asked the Punjab government to draw water from other canals whose share was described in the Water Accord. He said that under the accord, water would be released to canals only when there was surplus water and the requirements of the “lower riparian” were met. Despite this provision in the accord, a meeting of Irsa was “hurriedly” convened, he said, adding that releasing water into the controversial canal was “regrettable.”

Giving details of his meeting with Punjab CM Shahbaz Sharif in Islamabad, Shah said he informed Sharif that their representative in Irsa, who assumed acting chairmanship of the water body, had violated laws and personally “threatened” the federal and Sindh government’s representatives in Irsa.

Shah said he had also showed Shahbaz Sharif a video of a press conference of Irsa’s acting chairman, in which he used abusive language against Sindh Irrigation Minister Murad Ali Shah. He said that Shahbaz Sharif had promised that he would take action against Irsa’s acting chairman, and urged the Punjab CM to uphold his promise.

Talking about the revival of the Lyari and Malir development authorities, the CM said that after the judgment of the Supreme Court, all the ordinances and laws introduced by General (retd) Pervez Musharraf had been nullified. In light of the said judgment, the LDA and the MDA had also become defunct. He said that a session of the Sindh Assembly would be called in the first week of August, in which the two defunct bodies would be revived, as bills for this purpose had already been prepared.

Shah said the Sindh government had also formed a committee to oversee the devolution process. He said that several departments would be devolved from the Centre to the provinces as a result of the abolition of the Concurrent Legislative List after the approval of the 18th Amendment.

The CM said that the Sindh government had asked the federal government to devolve all departments to the province provided that the Centre would continue to pay the salaries to the employees of these devolved departments for the next five years.

JOURNALISTS’ SOCIETY: Syed Qaim Ali Shah has hoped that the revival of the LDA will expedite development work in the journalists’ housing society at Hawkes Bay. The CM also said that under instructions from President Asif Ali Zardari, the journalists would be provided “soft loans” for constructing their houses in the society.

Meanwhile, Shah gave a cheque of Rs2.5 million for the KPC. Press Club President Imtiaz Faran and General-Secretary A. H. Khanzada appreciated the financial help for the club from the government, saying that elected governments have always worked for the welfare of the journalists.