Advisory Committee Decides To Get Research Based Input For Framing Water Policy

Advisory Committee on Sindh Water Policy has decided to engage higher education institutes for conducting socio-economic survey of Manchar lake and research for finding ways of additional storage of irrigation water for agriculture purposes

HYDERABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 11th Dec, 2019 ) :Advisory Committee on Sindh Water Policy has decided to engage higher education institutes for conducting socio-economic survey of Manchar lake and research for finding ways of additional storage of irrigation water for agriculture purposes.

The members of the advisory committee constituted for preparation of water policy of Sindh met here on Wednesday under the chair of Managing Director Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority (SIDA) Wali Muhammad Naich.

According to SIDA spokesman, the meeting was attended by Chief Water and Development of Planning and Development board Ishtiaq Ahmed, Additional Secretary Livestock and Fisheries Dr. Roshan Mazhar, Chief Engineer SITE Limited Bashir Ahmed Shaikh, Director Regulation Irrigation Department Muhammad Ismail Daudpoto, Additional Director Technical Agriculture Department Safdar Aman, Director Finance WASA Syed Mohsin Jaferi, Conservator Forest Saeed Ahmed Piranai, General Manager Transition SIDA Farzana Syed, General Manager Research and Development SIDA Muhammad Ahsan Leghari, representatives of Sindh Abadgar Board, Sindh Chamber of Agriculture and Environment Protection Agency.

Addressing the participants of the meeting, Director General SIDA Wali Muhammad Naich said on the directives of Sindh Government, the Planning and Development Board, Irrigation Department and SIDA had been engaged since the year 2017, to prepare a policy draft on water regarding efficient use of irrigation water as well as water of Manchar Lake and to deal with issues like wastage of available resource as a result of climate change and increasing heat level of earth.

The provincial government had assigned SIDA to play leading role in this regard, he informed and added that under assigned responsibilities, SIDA had organized consultative workshops in prominent districts with representation of agriculture organizations, civil society and other stakeholders to get their suggestions and recommendations prior to prepare water policy.

The General Manager Research and Development SIDA while addressing the participants informed that SIDA was already engaged in preparation of Sindh water policy and now the provincial government had also formed a steering committee in this regard. The consultations and research of SIDA would help Sindh government to prepare effective water policy for the province, he added.

General Manager Transition SIDA Farzana Syed while briefing the participants said the water policy would provide solution of efficient utilization of water and ensure its availability to water consumers.

The participants of the meeting decided to engaged Mehran University of Engineering and Technology Jamshoro for conducting socio-economic survey of Manchar Lake and also agreed to assign Sindh Agriculture University Tando Jam responsibility of finding ways of storage of water for agriculture purpose in the light of modern agriculture researches.

The participants of the meeting also shared their views and presented recommendations about required funds for research purpose, recovery of water bills from consumers, setting up water treatment plants and rehabilitation of Manchar Lake.