The Sindh caretaker cabinet, led by Chief Minister Justice (Retd) Maqbool Baqar, has authorized a substantial increase in Abiana and water charges. The move, aimed at bridging the gap between revenue and maintenance expenses, comes amidst concerns over stagnant rates since 1999. Additionally, the cabinet greenlights the industrial use of Pakistan Steel Mills land and initiates plans for land surveys across districts. Minister Irrigation Ishwar Lal told the cabinet that the Abiana Rate and Water Supply Rate needed to be gradually increased to meet the Maintenance & Repair (M&R) requirement of irrigation infrastructure.
The Abiana / water charges recovery is much less than the M&R expenditure for reasons, including Abiana / water rates are very much on the lower side and were revised in the year 1999.
The average annual Abiana collection is Rs. 528.45 million against the average annual M&R expenditure of Rs. 4,464.77 million. As per Sindh Irrigation Department study 2014 the average annual M&R requirement is Rs. 11353 million. Secretary Irrigation Niaz Abbasi giving a comparison of the Sindh and Punjab rates said that Sindh collected abiana for wheat at Rs53.3 per acre in 1999, 2021 and 2024 while Punjab collected Rs150 in 2021 and Rs400 in 2024.
Similarly, Sindh collected Rs181.87 in 1999, 2021 and 2024 for Sugarcane while Punjab collected Rs250 in 2021 and 1600 in 2024. The cabinet was told that the rate of Sindh for Cotton remained at Rs93.09 per acre while Punjab has 250 in 2021 and Rs1000 in 2024. The baiana rate for Rice in Sindh was Rs88.78 while the Punjab has a rate of Rs250 in 2021 and Rs2000 in 2024. Similarly, the abiana rates for vegetables, fodder and orchards in Sindh are 142.14, Rs53.3 and 142.14 respectively while the rate in Punjab is Rs 1200, Rs400 and Rs1000 in 2024 repetitively.
The cabinet approved an increase of the Abiana rate for Crops and water charges for Municipal/Domestic, Industrial and Commercial uses by 100 per cent. The current rate for Abiana is Rs53 (Riverine water) and Rs363 (Tube well and Lift Machine) per acre and it would be increased to Rs106/726 per acre.
The water rates for Municipal/domestic rates are Rs0.50 per 1000 gallons and the new rate would be Rs4 per 1000 gallons which shows a 800 percent increase. The water rate for industrial/commercial is Rs1.0 per 1000 gallons and its new rate would be Rs8.0 per 1000 gallons.
The cabinet observed that the Municipal Corporations, water board, WASA and even industrial areas of Karachi, Hyderabad and. Sukkur do not pay a single penny of water to the irrigation department. Survey of Un-surveyed: The cabinet was told that Survey work would be started in each district, for which 32 Survey teams were being constituted comprising one Revenue Surveyor six Tapedars and an Inspector of Revenue and City Surveys.
