 "Pakistan's crop-sowing faces the brunt as India chokes Chenab flow causing major water shortage")
Pakistan is witnessing a new form of crisis amid tensions with India over the abeyance of the Indus Waters Treaty. The country is starting a bleak kharif (summer crops) sowing season with a major dip in live storage at its two key dams - Mangla on river Jhelum and Tarbela on Indus, The Times of India reported.
As per the report, there has also been a “sudden decrease” in the inflows of the Chenab River due to the regulation of water flow by India. Shortly after the Pahalgam terror attack that led to the death of 26 tourists in Kashmir, India put the Indus Waters Treaty, which determined the water sharing between the two nations, into abeyance.
As per the report, the situation in Pakistan may further aggravate this month during early kharif sowing. Many believe that the looming crisis is what prompted Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to rake up the water dispute at a UN glacier preservation conference in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, last week.
Pakistan faces a water flow shortage
During the glacier’s meeting, India hit back against Sharif’s assertion, insisting that it was Pakistan that violated the Indus Waters Treaty by supporting and fostering terrorism. Meanwhile, the latest estimates by Pakistan’s Indus River System Authority (IRSA) reflected that the cash-strapped nation is already facing an overall shortage of 21 per cent in water flow and a 50 per cent live shortage of its two key dams.
It is pertinent to note that the Mangla dam on the river Jhelum and Tarbela on the Indus play a crucial role in providing water for irrigation in the Punjab and Sindh provinces of Pakistan. The dams are also used for the generation of hydropower in the region.
Referring to the latest figures, IRSA “noted with concern” that the sudden decrease in river Chenab inflows at Marala due to short supply by India would result in more shortage in the early Kharif season," TOI reported. This will cause a shortage of water for summer sowing operations from May to September.
The Pakistani agency advised the dam authorities and irrigation supply monitoring agencies to use water from reservoirs judiciously, “keeping in view the crisis created by Indian short supplies in Chenab River”.
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