The advisory committee of the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) will decide on the allocation of estimated available water resources of 33.6 Million Acers Feet (MAF) to the provinces for the Rabi season on September 30. An official source the technical committee of IRSA estimated that despite significant rains during the monsoon season, the country was faced with 10 per cent water shortage for the upcoming Rabi season from October 1 to March 30. It was decided with consensus that the shortage would be shared by Punjab and Sindh, while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan would get their full shares. However, differences remained among the provincial representatives of Punjab and Sindh, in determining the water losses during the season. Sindh was of the opinion that there would be no losses while it was challenged by Punjab irrigation department. The technical committee decided to refer the issue to the advisory committee for final decision. According to IRSA estimates, 21.7 MAF of water inflows is expected in the system during the season while 11.9 MAF storage water would be available through the major reservoirs of Tarbela, Mangla and Chashma. The inflows for Indus are estimated at 8.6 MAF, Jhelum 4.4 MAF, Kabul 4 MAF, Chenab 4.2 MAF and Eastern rivers 0.2 MAF during the Rabi season. The main crops of Rabi season is country’s main staple food, wheat. While gram, lentils, potato and onion, and edible oilseeds crops are other minor crops. The wheat sowing starts from October and continues till December end which requires irrigation water. The source said that despite 10 per cent shortage the cultivation of wheat crop was not likely to be affected as wheat is sowing earlier in Sindh and then in Punjab. He said projected shortage was just an estimate and hopefully the rains during the winter and spring seasons would improve water availability. The government is likely to fix wheat production target of 25 million tons for next year as compared to domestic requirements of 22 million tons. Pakistan last year produced 24.2 million tons of wheat which provided an exportable surplus of 2 million tons. The meeting of the technical committee was held under the chairmanship of Chief Engineer IRSA Yasmin Iqbal. It was attended by representatives of provincial irrigation departments, WAPDA and Pakistan Meteorological Department.
