***“The water crisis is a national, rather than an inter-provincial, problem, and has to be handled politically, by elected representatives, rather than administratively by a military government"***

FEDERAL intervention was needed to break ihe inter-provincial deadlock (particularly between Punjab and Sindh) on how to share the water shortage. Ihe daily The Nation'said it was a hatd-eningof positions within the respective provincial bureaucracies.

Finally, the Chief Executive had to come in (he picture and allocate the available water among the provinces. According to the latest arrangement, Sindh will draw 22,450 cusecs of water from May 1 as against 21,350 cusecs at present, which is three limes more than Punjab's 8,350 cusecs. Additional water inflow's are estimated to be 1,200 cusecs from May 1, all of which Sindh will gel.

Of the presently available 32,000 cusecs (according io figures available on April 26,2001), Sindh draws 18.000 cusecs. Punjab 5,000 cusecs and NWFP 2,500 cusecs. Sindh and Punjab share the remaining surplus

of 6,700 cusecs.

From this month waler inflow is expected ip increase from 32,000 to 33,400 cusecs. All the additional water has been allocated to Sindh, which would increase ils quota to 22,500, including existing allocation of 18,000 cusecs plus 3,350 cusecs surplus waler and all additional inflows from May. Punjab, showing goodwill gesture, unilaterally granted its 5,000 cusecs a day io Sindh during last two weeks. T his

helped Sindh to draw 2,84,400 cusecs additional water during April, from the Indus arm.

It seems, however, that the latest scheme of distribution has satisfied neither Sindh nor Punjab. The latter thinks it has been unjust. Sindh is unhappy over the fact that police had taken action against protesters who demonstrated against ihe delay in announcing the scheme.

Anyhow the matter is now settled, at least for the time being. Punjab has been finally coaxed into surrendering its entire share except for 5,000 cusecs. It is to get this quantity for the next few weeks. All water excess of this quantity is to be

sent over to Sindh, irrespective of (he quantity. Already the Dow in Kabul and Indus rivers has increased to 62,000 cusecs. This would mean 57,000 cusecs to Sindh. As (he situation improves during the next fortnight, Sindh's share would further increase. This, some think, is not right; (hey are of the opinion t hat each party should get share of lhe additional waler available, only proportionately.

T he argument lor Sindh was that

while drought had affected ail provinces, the scale of devastation and public suffering in Sindh has no parallel. The shortage has left the province's agriculture-based economy on the verge of collapse. Expectedly, almost all political parties have been protesting the watershoriage in Sindh.

Reports in the national Press say that about 1.4 million acres of agricultural land in Guddu Barrage and 3.2 million acres in Sukkur Barrage have been badly damaged. Orchards all over the province and mangrove forests in lower Sindh have dried up. The losses in Thatta and Badin districts are estimated to be over Rs

100 billion. With the Indus going dry, fish have perished on a large scale depriving thousands ol fishermen of the only means of livelihood (hey have. According to an estimate, about two million people have suffered economically due to the shortage of waler.

Whal has caused this damage? Experts think that the construction of dams and barrage on the Indus river during (he last 60 years or so have substantially reduced (he flow

of sweet river water into sea resulting in serious ecological imbalance. This year the flow has been almost nothing, leading to the critical stage. This, knowledgeable people say, explains why the 1991 accord had recognized the need for minimum escapages to the sea below Kotri. Social effects of the disaster currently being faced by Sindh are visible all over the province. Virtually every'section of society is feeling the crunch, the cultivators, both rich and poor, see their fields turning into wasteland without being able to do anything. In certain areas even drinking water has become scarce. The rising graph of suicides in Sindh

has been ascribed by some people to this phenomenon. It is not only that agriculture has been affected. On the other hand, as an after-elTccl of the deteriorating agricultural activity. trading activity has also declined, unemployment has increased bringing in the attending hardships for all sections of the people. The result is that protest marches have been brought out.

But the (act (hat Sindh has taken

full brunt of the drought does not bode well for the federation. Moreover. there have been everybody-for-himself types of statements by bureaucratic circles and the fanning lobby in Punjab, these have made the situation even worse. There have been reports that some elements in Punjab have sought to wriggle out of the 1991 agreement on the inter-provincial agreement on water by invoking a controversial decision taken in 1994 in an inter-ministerial meeting that had no constitutional authority. Many in Sindh did not see the 1991 agreement as fair, but it had at least a constitutional backing.

It has also been pointed out that

the move will produce no more than a temporary cl feci of a limited nature. Despite the 1991 accord, the conflicting claims over waler resources between provinces have remained unsettled. These haw (o be resolved through consensus rather than through diktat if the federation is not (o be weakened. Punjab will be expected to play a vital role in evolving a permanent agreement satisfying everyone. A number of objections were raised from Sindh when the formula underlying the 1991 water accord was being devised. Many of these made sense. J

At the moment, there is still no agreement how lulure waler shortages are to be shared. I his merely creates seeds for lumreacrimony as in the words of The Nation'. Punjab" will never accept the present scheme as a precedent while it is to be accepted that Sindh will quote it in future. The paper, therefore, wondered why the federal government did not resolve the issue finally.

'TheNation'used the occasion to plead for a representative government in the country. It said in an editorial, "The water crisis is a national, rather than an interprovincial, problem, and has to be handled politically, by elected representatives, rather than administratively by a military government".