Rice, Cotton Crops Badly Hit By Water Scarcity: Jam Khan Shoro

Sindh Irrigation Minister Jam Khan Shoro has deplored that the rice and cotton crops were being badly hit by water scarcity

HYDERABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Jun, 2023 ) :Sindh Irrigation Minister Jam Khan Shoro has deplored that the rice and cotton crops were being badly hit by water scarcity.

Addressing a press conference after assuming the charge of Chairman Board of Directors of Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority (SIDA), he said that IRSA was releasing 12,000 cusecs of water in Taunsa Panjnad and 8,000 cusecs in Chashma Jhelum link canals which were supposed to be given water only during the flood situation.

He argued that under the 1991 Water Accord Sindh was supposed to supply 180,000 cusecs of water in the Indus river during the current season.

"But at present, just 160,000 cusecs of water is being released at Taunsa which is 300 kilometers away from Guddu barrage in Sindh.

He recalled that a committee formed by the National Assembly Standing Committee on Water visited the barrages in Sindh and also acknowledged that Sindh should be given its due share of water.

The Irrigation minister also shared the inflows and outflows of the Tarbela and Mangla dams saying that the formers were receiving 269,000 cusecs and were releasing 133,000 cusecs and the latter 133,000 cusecs and just 10,000 cusecs.

The minister underlined that Pakistan needed more canals to expand the existing irrigation network and increase the cropping area.

"The lining of the irrigation network, high-efficiency agriculture, drip irrigation, laser levelers and other advanced techniques are the need of the hour to take our agriculture to the next level," he observed.

The minister recalled that the losses sustained during the torrential rains and floods last year were calculated at around Rs100 billion in Sindh.

Earlier the minister chaired a meeting of the board during which the officers of SIDA briefed him about the working of the authority and its board.

He was briefed that 3 Area Water Boards (AWBs) worked under SIDA which controlled a total of 364 sub-canals, among which 360 were managed by the Farmer's Organizations (FOs).

The Managing Director SIDA Preetam Das informed the minister about the vacant positions of the officers in SIDA and the AWBs.