The Indus River System Authority (Isra) allocated 16.65 MAF water to Punjab for sowing, growing and maturing Rabi crops 2013-14, which is 16 percent less than its annual usages of 19 MAF water, Punjab Irrigation Consultant and canal regulator Engineer M H Siddiqui told Business Recorder here on Wednesday.
Engineer Siddiqui who attended Irsa’s Advisory Committee meeting as representative of Punjab for distribution of available water among the provinces said that due to the increased storage capacity of Mangla Dam by about 2 MAF water, the previous 30 percent shortage of water for strategic Rabi crops has come down to 16 percent which could be managed by better use of the available water. The Rabi season starts from October 1 in the country. He said the technical committee of Irsa had estimated that 22.22 MAF run of the rivers water from October 1, 2013 to March 31, 2014, and 12 MAF water stored in Mangla and Tarbela Dams for distribution among the provinces this year. The water line losses have been calculated to be 2.8 MAF.
