ISLAMABAD: A row over the opening of Chashma-Jhelum (CJ) link canal took a new turn on Wednesday when Sindh’s member and the federal member of the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) decided to resign in protest against the move.

According to sources, Sindh’s member Mohammed Khan Memon and federal member Bashir Ahmed Dahr may submit their resignations on Thursday.

Protesting against the decision taken by Punjab’s member in his capacity as acting chairman of Irsa to open the canal, the Sindh government demanded an urgent meeting of the water regulator to reverse it.

An official in the Sindh irrigation department told Dawn that Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah would take up the issue with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

Irsa’s Sindh member briefed provincial Irrigation Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah in Karachi on the situation. Mr Shah discussed the matter with the chief minister who decided to take up the matter with the federal and Punjab leadership.

Mr Memon was advised to issue a notice to all Irsa members and register the protest against what the Sindh government terms an ‘illegal decision’ of the Punjab member and call a meeting of the authority to discuss the issue in detail.

Meanwhile, Irsa’s acting chairman and member from Punjab Shafqat Masood held separate meetings with Water and Power Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and Secretary Shahid Rafi and explained reasons behind his decision to open the canal.

Apparently convinced by Mr Masood’s point of view, the minister and the secretary advised him to issue a statement to clarify why he had decided to open the canal despite opposition from members representing the federal and Sindh governments.

In its statement Irsa said it had to take judicious actions on a need basis to regulate supplies of available water in accordance with provincial demands. On July 6, all the provinces, except Punjab, were getting indented supplies. Punjab’s indents for the opening of the CJ link canal and Greater Thal canal had been pending for over six weeks, the statement said.

It explained that the availability of water at Trimmu on the Chenab, which fed south Punjab canals, was showing a declining trend. Meanwhile, the availability in the Indus had shown a considerable increase and surplus flows were taking place below Chashma Barrage.

The authority said the filling in Mangla was still deficient and might remain below full conservation level which could severely affect the next Rabi wheat targets.

Accordingly, it was considered more feasible to augment the supplies at Trimmu through the CJ link canal as Tarbela reservoir was having 42 per cent more storage than last year, it said.

It said the link canals were operated as part of the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 to manage the Indus Basin as an integrated entity as envisaged in the Water Apportionment Accord of 1991. Also, Clause 14(d) of the accord provided freedom to the provinces to modify system-wise, as well as period-wise, uses within their allocations, it said.

Irsa said that presently all the stakeholders were getting their indented supplies which were more than provincial shares defined in the 1991 accord. Due to sufficient availability of water, the share of Sindh was increased to 200,000 cusecs from 190,000 at the time of opening of the CJ link canal. Now Punjab will receive 152,000 cusecs for its entire system. “This confirms that none of the stakeholders has been subjected to any shortfall due to opening of the CJ link canal,” the statement concluded.
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