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Water shortage delays cotton sowing
LAHORE, April 22:
Sowing of cotton in the Punjab may start from May
15 instead of the scheduled April 15 because of
acute shortage of water. The shortage had been
caused by depletion of the Mangla and Tarbela dams
and reduction in the river flow, stated Punjab
Irrigation Minister Chaudhry Amer Sultan Cheema
during a meeting with representatives of the
Farmers Council here on Wednesday.
He said the Punjab had asked the Indus River
System Authority to supply it adequate water from
the Mangla and Tarbela dams without which it was
not possible for it to sow the Kharif crops. He
said the canals would remain closed till April 30
for the improvement in the river flow, which had
been reduced because of the slow snow melting in
the northern areas.
The 50 per cent of the water of the Mangla-fed
canals, which irrigate rice producing areas, would
be diverted to the cotton growing areas. This
would be done in the beginning of the rice sowing
season after May 20, he said.
The minister said Dera Ghazi Khan and Rahim Yar
Khan were facing acute shortage of water because
of the meagre 60 per cent flow in the Indus and
Kabul. These districts could also not be given
water from the northern Punjab and the Mangla Dam
because such areas also were facing 30 to 40 per
cent shortage.
Therefore, he said, the beginning of the cotton
sowing in these districts was feared to be delayed
till May 15, a month later than the schedule. He,
however, hoped that water could be made available
in the northern Punjab in view of the Irsa
advisory committee's prediction of 25 per cent
shortage in these areas only between Sept 11 and
30.
He said water was being supplied only to those
cotton growing districts, which didn't have
underground water resources. The 'wara bandi'
system was also being strictly implemented to
tackle the shortage.
Irsa, he said, had predicted in March four per
cent shortage of water in the Kharif season. This
figure was increased to eight per cent on March
30, but the body at its April 13 meeting further
increased the expected shortage to 13 per cent
from April to June.
Mr Cheema said the meteorological department had
reported 10 per cent extra snowfall in the
country, but it had yet to start melting because
of low temperatures in the northern areas,
reducing the flow of rivers.
For all these reasons, he said, the perennial
canals in the province were being fed with 30 to
40 per cent less water than their actual capacity
whereas the six-monthly canals were still closed.
The DAWN |
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Pakissan.com; Advisory Point
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