Pakistan’s Sindh Irrigation Minister Sohail Anwar Khan Siyal on Tuesday warned that the province is heading fast towards famine due to the water shortage.
Speaking at a press conference in Karachi, the irrigation minister said Sindh province only has 10 days of water reserves and the Pakistan Meteorological Department had also expressed fears of severe consequences due to a drought in 10 districts, Geo News reported.
The minister said if there was no rainfall, water for agriculture and human needs would not be available and a severe shortage would affect the districts of Sindh, including Karachi.
Siyal blamed the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) for the water shortage and asked Prime Minister Imran Khan-led PTI government in the Centre to refrain from “spreading hatred”.
Responding to the Balochistan government’s warning of cutting Karachi’s water supply, he said when Sindh does not have water to fulfil its needs, how will it provide for others, Geo News reported.
“Sindh and Balochistan are being punished for the incompetence of the Centre,” Siyal added.
Earlier, the Balochistan government had warned that it would cut off Karachi’s water supply from Hub Dam, as the provinces quarrelled over water shortage, Geo News reported.
Balochistan government’s spokesperson Liaquat Shahwani, addressing a press conference in Islamabad, had blamed the Sindh government for releasing less water to his province.
“Sindh is supplying 42 per cent less water to Balochistan […] the province is getting only 7,000 cusecs of water from Sindh,” the spokesperson said.
“Chief Minister Sindh (Murad Ali Shah) had refused to provide Balochistan its due share of water,” he claimed.
Earlier, this week, experts had also warned that famine-like situations may arise in Pakistan due to the scarcity of water across the country if the issue is not resolved timely.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.
We, however, have a request.
As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.
Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.
Digital Editor
business-standard.com