Islamabad   -   Balochistan has once again lodged a complaint with IRSA blaming Sindh for stealing 40 percent of its water.

In a letter to Indus River System Authority (IRSA), Balochistan government has complained that the province is getting only 60 percent water of its share from the province of Sindh, official source told The Nation here Sunday.

In response to Balochistan’s allegation, the water regulator has asked Sindh to address grievances of the affected province. Balochistan has accused Sindh of extracting more water than its allocation under the Water Apportionment Accord agreed among the provinces in 1991, leaving Balochistan in a disadvantageous position. Since 1991 to 2018, Balochistan got almost 50 per cent less water than its demand that resulted in losses of around Rs100 billion to the province, Balochistan has alleged, said the source.

Meanwhile, another source said that the releases from Mangla and Tarbella reservoirs will be decreased to 5000 cusecs from today (Monday) due to annual canal closure. The current outflow from Mangla is 21000 cusecs while from Tarbella it is 10000 cusecs. The canal closure in the country is starting from 26th December and will continue till January 20th next year. The reduction of out flows from dams will increase the storage in the reservoirs, said the source. The present storage in all reservoirs is 0.9 MAF and it is expected to reach to 1.5 MAF till January 20th, the source added.

The position of the river inflows and outflows at Tarbella, Mangla and Chashma along with reservoirs levels and the barrages on Sunday were: inflows in River Indus at Tarbela were 18000 cusecs and outflows 15000 cusecs, Kabul at Nowshera inflows 4700 cusecs and outflows 4700 cusecs, Jhelum at Mangla inflows 6800 cusecs and outflows 21000 cusecs, Chenab at Marala inflows 6200 cusecs and outflows 3000 cusecs.

Jinnah Barrage inflows 39000 cusecs and outflows 35500 cusecs, Chashma inflows 26400 cusecs and outflows 23000 cusecs, Taunsa inflows 28100 cusecs and outflows 27800 cusecs, Panjnad inflows 2500 cusecs and outflows nil, Guddu inflows 26900 cusecs and outflows 23400 cusecs, Sukkur inflows 18200 cusecs and outflows Nil. Kotri inflows 2700 cusecs and outflows nil.

Tarbela against minimum operating level 1386 feet is presently at 1416.72 feet. The maximum conservation level of Tarbella is 1550 feet.

Mangla against minimum operating level of 1050 feet is presently at 1109.45 feet. The maximum conservation level of Mangla is 1242 feet.

Chashma against the minimum operating level of 638.15 feet is presently at 642.20 feet. The maximum conservation level of Chashma is 649 feet.