• Punjab to construct canal branching from Sutlej River.
• Project to get access to 450,000 acre-feet of water.
• Irsa’s Sindh member writes dissenting note. 

KARACHI: The Indus River System Authority (Irsa) has approved water supply to the Cholistan Canal System project, extending irrigated agriculture to the area despite opposition from Sindh.

Irrigated agriculture is an area equipped to provide water to the crops via artificial means of irrigation such as by diverting streams or spraying.

Secretary Irsa Jahanzab Khan also issued a water availability certificate to the Punjab government for the Cholistan project.

Following the approval, Punjab will construct the Cholistan Canal branching from the Sutlej River at Sulemanki Headworks, according to IRSA sources, providing access to 450,000 acre-feet of water.

The authority’s Sindh member, Ehsan Leghari, penned a dissenting note , expressing his disagreement over the approval.

He termed the granting of a water availability certificate to the Punjab government “an unfair move for Sindh”, saying that the move would reduce the water flow of the Indus River.

“The availability of water mentioned by secretary Irsa is not just from the Sutlej River,” he said, noting that water will be taken from Sulemanki Headworks through the link canal.

The federal government plans to construct six canals on the Indus River to irrigate the Cholistan desert — a project that was rejected by its main ally Pakistan People’s Pary (PPP) and other Sindh nationalist parties.

According to government sources, the estimated cost of the Cholistan canal and system is Rs211.4 billion and through the project, thousands of acres of barren land can be used for agricultural purposes and 400,000 acres of land can be brought under cultivation, The News reported.

Almost all political and religious parties, nationalist groups and civil society organisations staged widespread rallies across Sindh against the controversial plan.