Sindh Water Shortage
Pakistan's Sindh, South Punjab fume over water shortage
Lahore, Pakistan: Tension is rising between two regions of Pakistan over sharing of the nation's water resources as serious water shortages coupled with a searing heatwave have sparked grave concerns in South Punjab and Sindh, media reports said on Sunday.
Life has been upturned in the desert areas of Punjab, including Cholistan, Thal and the tribal areas of Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur, where people have been forced to migrate with their cattle to greener pastures and urban centres in their desperate search for water, reports The Dawn.
A heatwave there in the early days of May saw the mercury shoot up to 50 degrees Celsius in desert areas,compared to an average of 44 degrees Celsius over the past decade.
In other regions, temperatures rose to 48 degrees Celsius compared to past records of 40 degrees Celsius in the same period.
Punjab’s irrigation authorities blamed the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) for worsening the crisis by apportioning the province 0.4 million acre feet (MAF) less water than its share, compared to what they believe is 0.6MAF supplied to Sindh in excess of its share since April 16th.
Sindh is also fuming as people alleged they were not provided due share of water amid shortage of it.
The Irsa chairman, accompanied by the Balochistan and Punjab members of the authority, some members of the National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Water Resources, Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) representatives as well as Sindh irrigation officials, reached Sukkur on Friday evening to monitor water flows at the Sukkur and Guddu barrages, reports The Dawn.
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