ISLAMABAD: With over 28 per cent shortage anticipated, the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) could not finalise on Thursday water distribution mechanism for Rabi season, starting on Oct 1, amid serious differences among the provinces.

It was a rare meeting of the Irsa’s advisory committee that was marred by protests, walkouts and inconclusive sessions that could not reach agreement on any of the agenda items. The only agreement among the Irsa members and provincial secretaries for agriculture and irrigation was to meet again on Oct 5 with the same agenda items.

The meeting presided over by Saif Anjum, who is officiating as Irsa member for Punjab and chairman, came under criticism when Irsa’s member for Sindh objected to the proposal for distribution of water shares among the provinces under the three-tier formula based on the combination of para 2, para 4 and para 14(b) of the 1991 Water Appor-tionment Accord to allocate shares in times of shortages.

Under para 2, provincial water shares are fixed on the basis of about 38 million acre feet (MAF) of water availability in Rabi at the rate of about 19MAF to Punjab, about 15MAF to Sindh, about 3.5MAF to KP and 1.3MAF to Balochistan, while para 2 required balance river supplies like floods at the rate of 37pc each to Punjab and Sindh, 12pc for Balochistan and 14pc for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). Under para 14(b) of the accord, the record of actual average system uses for the period 1977-82, would form the guidelines for developing a future regulation pattern. These ten daily uses would be adjusted pro-prata to correspond to the indicated seasonal allocations of the different canal systems and would form the basis for sharing shortages and surpluses on all-Pakistan basis.

The remaining provincial members and chairman reminded the Sindh representatives that the three-tier formula was finalised by Irsa in 2003 with consensus of all the provinces and all three above sections were part of the accord and not from outside.

It was also explained that Sindh had already moved a reference to the Council of Common Interests (CCI) on the subject and should wait for the outcome.

Sindh’s team insisted that water distribution for Rabi should be done under para 2, i.e. 37pc of available water each to Punjab and Sindh and 12 and 14pc to Balochistan and KP, respectively. Sindh also demanded that water shortage should be applicable to Balochistan and KP and they should not be exempt from cuts.

The majority view was that distribution could not be made under para 2 because the water available was less than the required quantity. Irsa’s Balochistan and KP members said that Sindh’s demand for cut in their water shares was unreasonable.

The Irsa member for Balochistan also made a formal complaint that Sindh had denied 0.8MAF from its water share approved by Irsa in just-concluded Kharif season which should be compensated through higher share in Rabi.

Sindh’s Irsa member, secretary for irrigation and secretary for agriculture staged a walkout on the grounds that they could not remain part of the meeting when their stance was not accepted.

Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2021