The Sindh Irrigation Department sent a new letter on Thursday, the second in the last 48 hours, to the Indo River System authority (IRSA) to seek the immediate closure of the Taunsa Panjnad (TP) link channel to avoid the shortage of water in the province.
The controversy of the channels has been deepened with the Prime Minister of Sindh, Syed Murad Ali Shah, strongly criticizing the Punjab government for increasing the water that deviated to the TP link channel, while IRSA said he had made all the decisions according to the law.
The Irrigation Department of the Government of Sindh wrote on Tuesday a letter to IRSA, requesting that water transfer from the Indo River to the Jhelum-Chenab system stops.
In the most recent letter, the regulation director expressed a serious concern about the opening of the Link TP channel, particularly in the light of the entrance pattern observed in the Irrigation system of the Indo basin and the disproportionate shortage between Punjab and Sindh during the first ten days of April 2025.
The letter indicated that the discharge of the TP Link channel “increased from 2,981 CUSECs from April 15 to 3,814 CUSECs on April 16”.
The department requested that the operation of the link channel stop immediately and that the “Panjnad channel system can be fed through the flows of the Jhelum River, ultimately. [averting a] Shortage in the mangrove reservoir. ”
Water flows are stored in Tarbela and Mangla dams, according to the letter. The mangla dam, built on the Jhelum River, mainly feeds the Jhelum-Chenab (JC) area. For March 15, it stored 1,050 cusecs of water, but for April 17, the storage of the dam was 1,111.95 Cusecs.
“The entry observed in Jhelum [at] Mangla has exceeded the minimum early stage for 20 percent, “reads the letter.” It is evident that the availability of water in the JC system is much more than the INDO system during the 1 of the ten newspapers of April 2025 “.
Similarly, the Government said the Tarbela dam was a main source of water supply for Sindh and Baluchistan. On April 17, he stored 1,420 CUSECs after reaching 1,402 CUSECs in February.
The letter added: “The Liberations downstream of Panjnad must be carried out in accordance with the entrance pattern of the Observed River, instead of starting the operation of the link channels, since doing so could quickly reduce the availability of water for the lower riverside provinces.”
In addition, the letter warned that during the first ten days of April, water is observed both in Sindh and Punjab. “To balance water levels in Sindh, the water would need to be released from Punjab.”
Meanwhile, IRSA issued a statement that expresses concern that “it is blamed for your decisions are biased.”
“Authority is making all decisions according to [the] Water distribution agreement 1991 and IRSA Law XXII 1992 according to law, “said the statement.” IRSA’s authority has approved a resolution that has full confidence in all its members and president. “
On February 15, Punjab Prime Minister Maryam Nawaz, and the head of the Army staff, the general also opened the ambitious Cholistan project to water the lands of South Punjab in the middle of a public uproar and strong reserves in Sindh. The Sindh Assembly also approved a unanimous resolution against the project in March.
The two letters, questioning the operation of the TP channel, caught the attention due to the ongoing agitation in Sindh against the proposed construction of new channels and amid fears that these channels, mainly the Cholistan channel, diverted the water from the Indo River to the south of Punjab.
