Indian team to visit Pak on Saturday over Baglihar dam row

Lahore, Nov 24 : An Indian team headed by its Indus Waters Commissioner is scheduled to arrive in Pakistan this Saturday, and would visit Head Marala the following day in connection with Pakistan's demand for compensation for the 200,000-acre feet shortfall in Chenab river water caused by the filling of Baglihar Dam this year, said Pakistan's Indus Waters Commissioner Syed Jamaat Ali Shah.

Addressing a seminar at the Lahore press club last evening on threats to the country's agriculture sector, he said that under the Indus Basin Treaty, India could build dams for storing 2.85 million acre feet of water for power generation on the rivers entering Pakistan but it could not utilise it.

He said that the water shortfall, which was met from Mangla, had been experienced in Sialkot and Narowal for 10-12 days, and added that there was no danger of any further shortfall in the supply of water from Chenab.

A shortfall could, however, occur in Kabul river when Afghanistan would build a dam on it, he said and added that Pakistan should make judicious use of its water resources and bring 20 million acres of land under cultivation by utilising 19 to 20 million acre feet of its river water being wasted due to seepage.

ANI