Punjab and Sindh ministers on Thursday engaged in a verbal spat over the government’s canals project, a day after PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari rejected it while addressing a rally in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh, terming it “unilateral”.

Part of the Green Pakistan Initiative, the Cholistan canals project aims to irrigate a total of 4.8 million acres (1.9 million hectares) of barren land by constructing six canals — two each in Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab. Five of these canals will be built on the Indus River, while the sixth will constructed along the Sutlej River, supplying approximately 4,120 cusecs of water to irrigate the Cholistan desert in Punjab.

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz and Chief of the Army Staff Gen Asim Munir inaugurated the ambitious Cholistan project to irrigate south Punjab’s lands on February 15 amid public uproar and strong reservations in Sindh. What is being hailed as a game-changer for Punjab has triggered an uproar in Sindh, which believes that the scheme will further disturb the ecological balance in the province and deprive it of its mandated water share.

The Sindh Assembly unanimously passed a resolution against the construction of six new canals on the Indus River in March.

The resolution demanded an immediate halt to any plans, activities or work related to the controversial project until an agreement with all provincial governments, particularly Sindh, was reached to ensure that the rights of the province were fully protected and respected. Earlier this week, the PPP staged rallies across Sindh to record its protest against the plan for the construction of the canals.

While speaking to the media today in Lahore, Punjab Information Minister Azma Bokhari said that the PPP chairman’s statement during the rally was not a solution to the problem.

Punjab’s information minister said that if PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari was available to hold a meeting with the federal government for the budget allocation of the provinces, then he should also have time to find a solution to the canal problem.

She further said that President Asif Ali Zardari gave approval for the projects.

“It is documented, it is signed,” Bukhari said and reiterated that the PPP was only looking to do politics on the issue, terming it “unfortunate”.

While responding to the Punjab information minister, Sindh Senior Minister for Information, Transport and Mass Transit Sharjeel Inam Memon questioned whether Bokhari understood the president’s mandate under the Constitution.

“Have you [Bokhari] read the Constitution? Do you know how to read the Constitution?” Memon lashed out while speaking to the media in Karachi.

He added that where was it written in the Constitution that the president had the right to approve these projects.

“If the federal government has sent it to the president for approval, then that was an incompetent step,” he said.

“It is not his mandate, we are tired of telling you this a 100 times,” he said, adding that there was a process which the federal government had failed to follow.

“If you have the documents of approval, then you should be able to bring the fabricated minutes of the meeting,” he continued.

Responding to claims that PPP had not announced it would break away from the coalition government if their demands were not met, the Sindh information minister said, “When did we say we would announce it on somebody’s behest?”

“He (Bilawal) said we are with the people, we are not with the Shehbaz government,” Sharjeel said, quoting the PPP chairman.