What happened: The Sindh Chamber of Agriculture has raised concern about a severe water deficit in the province and urged the government to declare it a “calamity-hit” region. Details: SCA members urged that debts for small farmers with up to 16 acres be waived during a meeting held on May 15 under the chairmanship of Miran Mohammad Shah. The meeting agreed that an investigation should be conducted into a 13,000 cusecs flow gap between Taunsa and Guddu. What you need to know: Water shortages in Sindh’s barrages were recorded at 60%, affecting millions of acres of their command area, according to the SCA meeting. It advised Syed Khursheed Shah, the Federal Minister for Water Resources, to release 100,000 cusecs downstream of Chashma and ensure the storage of 5MAF in both dams for Sindh’s Kharif sowing next year. Why it matters: Punjab is accused of robbing Sindh’s water through the Chashma-Jhelum connection canal. It claimed that Wapda was the main cause of the water deficit. Early Kharif planting in Sindh began on March 1 and the dams were empty at the time.