LAHORE, May 25 (APP): Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar on Tuesday chaired a meeting to review water reserves and availability of the water in the province.
Provincial ministers Mohsin Khan Leghari, Hussain Jehanian Gardezi, secretaries of Irrigation and Agriculture departments and others attended the meeting. A detailed briefing was given about the prevailing water situation in the province, said a handout issued here.
The meeting regretted point-scoring by Sindh province and expressed its concern over water shortage in Punjab. The CM stressed that Sindh’s objection about the provision of more water to Punjab was inaccurate, adding that water was continuously supplied to Sindh at the time of sowing of crops there and when crops were being sown in Punjab, objection being raised by Sindh was preposterous.
Punjab could divert its water share to any canal according to the need and tested gauges had also been placed in Punjab to compile water data, he said. On the other side, the CM pointed out that there was no verified record of the collection of water data in Sindh.
Making water a political issue was against the national interest as water shortage was a technical issue that could be resolved through the constitution of joint teams of IRSA, Punjab and Sindh, the CM suggested.
He pointed out that Sindh earlier agreed to install the telemetry system but refused afterwards. He asserted that the Sindh government was quoting wrong data on the issue of water and due to the mismanagement of the Sindh government, water was still being released to the ocean from Kotri downstream.
He added the Punjab government had sent a letter to IRSA to depute inspectors for ensuring correct reporting about water. How could the issue of water shortage in Karachi be linked with Punjab as it had always taken care of every other province as an elder brother, the CM emphasized and suggested that politics over water issue was improper.