Many recurrences of theft of Sindh’s share of irrigation water happened at various times due to Punjab’s jurisdiction over it.

– MOHAMMAD KHAN SIAL, KARACHI

This has been happening since long and against hue and cry by members of Parliament from Sindh who protested several times. Sindh never gets its due share of water in full when it is released by Punjab’s jurisdiction, mainly due to the following three reasons; (1) Seepage (2) Evaporation (3) Installation of hundreds of powerful illegal ‘water-lift machines’ installed on both banks of River Indus between Taunsa and Sindh’s border on a distance of about 80 kilometres. The water of Sindh is being stolen by landlords of Punjab obviously in connivance with officers of the Punjab Irrigation Department and WAPDA. In the past, a few Irrigation Officers from Sindh were deputed to the canals of Punjab to deter theft of the water meant for Sindh but their efforts were foiled or Punjabi Irrigation Officers bribed them.

In return for the ‘favours’ they received in Lahore, they were compelled to send fake figures of water flow to Sindh government from Punjab which were provided to them by the Punjab Irrigation Department. These figures were obviously unauthentic and fake. If the stake-holders of the federation want to resolve this problem on a permanent basis, I suggest the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) should be told to strictly ensure that Sindh’s share of irrigation water is delivered at Guddu in Sindh instead of Taunsa in Punjab. I hope the federal Ministry for Water & Power as well as IRSA would take this decision with consent of the all concerned to resolve the problem once for all.

Courtesy: The Nation, July 21, 2010