The MQM Chief Altaf Hussain has supported the creation of new province of South Punjab which raises the question of cobbling down a new water accord to apportion the shares of each province for irrigation water.
The existing water accord has fixed 37 % share each for Punjab and Sindh to allocate liberal share to Sindh in view of saline ground water in that province. Similarly, South Punjab has also large tracts of saline ground water unfit for irrigation. It would have to be compensated for that.
The newly proposed shares of North Punjab and South Punjab and Sindh may be to the tune of 25 % for North Punjab, 20 % for South Punjab and 29 % for Sindh. The total irrigated area of Punjab at present is 76% while of Sindh it is 12 % in rounded figure. As such the North and South Punjab would need to get a total of 45 % while Sindh ought to get 29 % instead of 37 %. However, these shares could only be met by a new storage dam which is a moot question as no new dam seems to be in the offing at present.
DR MUHAMMAD YAQOOB BHATTI
Lahore