RECENTLY put into trial operation, Jalalpur canal has stoked a new controversy between Punjab and Sindh. A summary of the Sindh government, raising objections against the project, was already pending with the Council of Common Interests (CCI) since 2024. Sindh had been raising objections on this project from its inception, but these have been consistently disregarded.

A 117km-long main canal with a design discharge of 1,350 cusecs off-taking from the right bank of the Rasul barrage on the Jhelum river, it aims to irrigate a culturable command area of about 68,000 hectares in the Potohar plateau of Punjab, mainly in Pind Dadan Khan and Khushab during the Kharif season. The Asian Development Bank had provided financial assistance for design and construction of the project to the Punjab government.

Punjab claims that it will use its own share of water for the new canal through internal adjustment. Sindh, however, has questioned the source of additional water of approximately 0.5 million acre feet every year. Punjab has distributed all its water allocated under the 1991 Water Accord. Internal adjustment would require slashing the share of water of some other canal command area. Publicly available project documents........

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