The Indus River System Authority member of Sindh has objected over the figures provided by the Irsa chairman regarding the percentage of water shortage in the province during a meeting, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

A meeting of National Assembly Standing Committee on Water Resources was held under the chair of Nawab Yousuf Talpur on Monday. Irsa Chairman Rao Irshad briefed the meeting. 

He told the committee that the country was facing 17% water shortage during the Kharif season. The inflow into Tarbela was 20% less than expected. This year, 62% less water has been added to the water resources, Mr Irshad said. 

The Irsa member of Sindh raised objection over the assertion of water apportionment body’s chief saying that Sindh was facing 22% instead of 17% water shortage. He disagreed with the figure provided by the Irsa chairman. He was of the view that these statistics being presented before the committee were distorted. 

He claimed that Sindh was not getting an extra 5,000 cusecs water of its portion. 

The Irsa chairman told the meeting that ‘we waste 28maf water every year into the sea on average and the wasted water is worth $7 billion annually.’ He was of the view had the dams been built, this water could have been utilized. He warned that if new dams were not built then the provinces would keep fighting with each other. 

The Irsa chairman said there would be no bigger fool than us who could waste water but could not build dams for water storage. 

The NA committee chairman, Mr Talpur, objected to his choice of words and asked whom he referred to as a fool. On this, Mr Irshad apologized and took back his words.

Pollution in River Kunhar 

The meeting was told that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had done the necessary legislation to stop the pollution in River Kunhar. It was suggested to set up a sub-committee that could go to the area and inspect the work. 

The Sindh government has also established a commission to stop pollution in the River Sindh on the direction of Supreme Court, the meeting was told.

The Irsa member of Sindh told the meeting that Manchar Lake water was also polluted and asked the committee to look into it. 

The committee chairman agreed to form a sub-committee for stopping pollution in River Kunhar and River Sindh. 

Reporter M Awais Kiyani