As the current running water in the four live rivers is not sufficient to meet irrigation water needs of the Kharif crops nearing harvesting across the country, the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) started releasing extra water from Tarbela and Mangla dams on Friday.
Wapda sources told Business Recorder that the water regulatory body is releasing 70,000 cusecs water downstream the Tarbela dam against the inflow of 58,900 cusecs in the Indus River. Similarly 33,000 cusecs water is being discharged downstream the Mangla dam against the 28,000 cusecs run of the River Jhelum for augmenting water availability in the northern, central and south Punjab. The water flow in river Kabul has dropped to 18,000 cusecs and in River Chenab to 19,200 cusecs.
They said it is an irony that upper regions of the country are facing water shortage whereas the riparian Sindh province is still in a flood like situation. 1,13,300 cusecs water is flowing into the Guddu barrage which is being discharged downstream without releasing a single cusecs water in the canals off-taking from the head-works. They said the Sindh Irrigation engineers are discharging 93,196 cusecs water into the Indus Delta/Arabian as this huge quantity of water is not needed for crop irrigation purposes in the province. Meanwhile the Met Office has forecast mainly dry weather in most parts of the country during next two days as there was no rain anywhere in the country.
