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Punjab has asked the Indus River System Authority (IRSA) to look into exceptional water losses being reported because of under-reporting of inflows by Sindh province.
Sindh Irrigation Department claimed to have measured as high as 60 per cent losses at Guddu Barrage if compared with outflows from Taunsa and Panjnad Barrages upstream. Meanwhile, Sindh has indulged in the practice of under-reporting water inflows to the tune of 60 per cent against 10 per cent conveyance losses determined by IRSA in Indus Zone for Rabi Season between Taunsa plus Panjnad and Guddu. Similarly, the Sindh Irrigation Department misreporting Indus water flows by 40 per cent between Sukkur and Kotri barrages, as reported by News International. Moreover, Punjab asked for considering losses in the Indus zone as zero, until the actual discharge measurement is not being done. Furthermore, Punjab stressed that the extra reported losses other than permissible losses should be accounted for in the respective provincial water account, according to News International. The demand for water in the Indus Basin system has been on the lower side for the last couple of weeks, prompting Punjab to extend annual canal closure by two weeks. Sindh is also observing canal closure and thus demand for irrigation purposes has been at the lowest ebb. In such a situation, it is hard to digest as high as 60 per cent system water losses from January 03, to January 20, 2022, as analyzed by News International. (ANI)
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