- Punjab to build a branching of the canal from the Sutlej river.
- Project to access 450,000 water acres.
- The member of the Sindh of Irsa writes a dissident note.
Karachi: The Authority of the INDUST SYSTEM (IRSA) approved the water supply of the Cholistan canal system project, extending irrigated agriculture to the region despite the Sindh opposition.
Irrigated agriculture is an equipped area to provide water to crops by artificial irrigation means, such as diverting streams or spraying.
Secretary Irsa Jahanzab Khan also issued a water availability certificate to the Punjab government for the Cholistan project.
According to IRSA sources, following approval, Punjab will build the branching of the Cholistan channel from the Sutlej river to Sulemanki Headworks, according to IRSA sources, giving access to 450,000 acres d ‘water.
The member of the Sindh of Authority, Ehsan Leghari, wrote a dissident note, expressing his disagreement on approval.
He described the granting of a certificate of water availability to the Punjab government “an unfair decision for the Sindh”, claiming that this decision would reduce the flow of water from the Indus.
“The availability of the water mentioned by secretary IRSA is not only of the Sutlej river,” he said, noting that the water will be taken from the head of Sulemanki through the liaison channel.
The federal government plans to build six channels on the Industry river to irrigate the Cholistan desert – a project that was rejected by its main popular ally Pakistan (PPP) and other nationalist parties in the Sindh.
According to government sources, the estimated cost of the canal and the Cholistan system is 211.4 billion rupees and through the project, thousands of sterile land can be used for agricultural purposes and 400,000 acres of Lands can be brought to culture, the news reported.
Almost all political and religious parties, nationalist groups and civil society organizations organized generalized rallies through the Sindh against the controversial plan.