Islamabad, Nov 13 (SocialNews.XYZ) Punjab and Sindh provinces of Pakistan are facing a projected 22 per cent irrigation-water shortage during the ongoing rabi season, local media reported on Friday.
The Indus River System Authority (IRSA) has approved a 22 per cent water shortage for the Rabi season from October to March, based on anticipated river inflows of 21.268 million acre-feet, Pakistan-based daily The Express Tribune reported.
The IRSA has projected provincial water withdrawals at 29.183 million acre-feet, leading to farmers in Punjab and Sindh facing problems during winter crop cultivation.
The predicted shortfall could impact wheat, rabi crop, tobacco, barley, mustard, gram, lentils, potatoes, onions and tomatoes. The availability of timely irrigation is especially important for wheat cultivation as water shortages during crop development can impact plant growth and eventually affect production.
In September, a report detailed that the groundwater crisis in Pakistan is caused by governance failures and policy paralysis instead of physical water scarcity. In addition to ineffective policies, the division of responsibilities among government departments has caused regulatory gaps in Pakistan, leading to a lack of accountability and failure in providing sufficient water to people.
Pakistan has been blaming India, climate change and population increase for the water crisis. But the real causes of water scarcity in Pakistan are distorted policies, mismanagement, uneven distribution of water among provinces, theft and corruption, according to a report in the European Times.
Despite having a huge network of big rivers and groundwater reserves, Pakistan has been facing water scarcity. Unequal canal distribution, inefficient irrigation, uncontrolled groundwater extraction, poor investment and institutional failure have turned the resource-management problem into a water crisis in Pakistan.
After India placed the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) in abeyance following last year's heinous terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pahalgam, until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism, Pakistani lawmakers have made it an excuse to hide their failures and hold New Delhi responsible for the water crisis.
"No governments in Pakistan have ever attempted to address these problems, leaving the country with low agricultural water productivity, dilapidated and outdated canal system, severe groundwater depletion, and weak enforcement. India cannot be blamed for those failures," the report mentioned.
Pakistan has not built even one major reservoir in the past five decades to store water. Pakistan has not made efforts for efficient management of the water that it gets through rivers or to stop groundwater depletion. Over 1.5 million tube wells have resulted in uncontrolled pumping in Pakistan. Subsidised electricity and power theft have further intensified the problem.
"Notably, the government of Pakistan is well aware of the problem and has at times underlined the need to bring in necessary reforms. But it has failed to act. Pakistan’s groundwater crisis is due to governance failures and policy paralysis rather than physical water scarcity. Besides policy distortions, fragmented responsibilities among different government departments have created regulatory gaps, deprived the ecosystem of accountability and sustainability and a promise of adequate water," the European Times report stated.
Source: IANS
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