LAHORE: The Punjab government has urged Indus River System Authority (IRSA) to ensure fair water distribution among provinces, blaming Sindh province for drawing excess water in, what it called, blatant violation of agreed share.
In a letter dated April 9, 2025, Punjab argued that IRSA declared a significant 43pc water shortage for early Kharif 2025, allocating only 6.702 million acre-feet (MAF) to Punjab. This substantial reduction raised concerns about the province’s water security and agricultural productivity.
The News reached out to IRSA for seeking its comment over the development. According to the Punjab Irrigation Department, the operational criteria for the JC Zone during early Kharif 2025 had been reviewed, and the releases from Mangla Dam would be limited to 8,000 cusecs to ensure 60pc filling of the dam before June 30, 2025. However, Punjab is facing significant challenges in accessing its allocated share of water.
Despite the declared shortage, Sindh province had been drawing water in excess of its entitled share, exacerbating the water scarcity in Punjab. Moreover, reports of underreporting at Sindh barrages raised concerns about the accuracy of water distribution. The Irrigation Department urged IRSA to ensure correct and transparent reporting from all Sindh barrages and to strictly monitor water shares during early Kharif.
Punjab also requested the operation of the CJ and TP link canals to access its rightful share from the Indus River. The water crisis in Punjab has reached a critical point, threatening widespread unrest and economic hardship, the letter said. The situation demands immediate and decisive intervention to reassess shares, ensure transparent reporting, and cease unwarranted downstream Kotri releases, added the letter.
As per Punjab’s key demands, IRSA had been asked to ensure fair and transparent distribution of water among provinces. Besides, Punjab’s allocated share of water should be provided without any reduction or delay. The CJ and TP link canals should be operated strictly in accordance with Punjab’s indents. IRSA should investigate and address the underreporting of water discharge at Sindh barrages.
The situation requires urgent attention from the authorities to prevent further escalation of the water crisis in Punjab, the Irrigation Department stressed.
IRSA, in its Advisory Committee Meeting for Rabi 2024-25, announced shortfall of 16pc for both Punjab and Sindh. However, by the end of Rabi 2024-25 season, Sindh province was provided canal water supply with 19pc shortage whereas, Punjab was provided canal water supply with 22pc shortage.
Moreover, IRSA did not keep any provision of supplying water downstream Kotri barrage, during whole Rabi 2024-25 season. Whereas, Sindh Irrigation Department escaped 0.470 MAF of water below Kotri barrage, despite huge shortage of canal water supply in Punjab.
In addition to that, IRSA representative inspected Sindh barrages on February 15, 2025 and found that Rice Canal was running at 936 cusecs whereas Sindh Irrigation Department had reported that canal as ‘closed’ on February 15, 2025.
Moreover, Dadu canal was running at 1,226 cusecs against the reported discharge of 950 cusecs, again a difference of 276 cusecs was observed. Punjab stated that all above mentioned facts clearly indicated that Sindh was using surplus water and also doing underreporting at its barrages, that directly impacted the share of other provinces, particularly Punjab, as Punjab and Sindh are the only provinces that share shortages of canal water supplies.
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