Taunsa Farmers Hit Hard as Chashma Right Bank Canal Stays Closed After Breach
A breach at RD 185 on Sept 14 forced Wapda to stop Chashma Barrage releases. Emergency works worth about Rs385 million are under way, but Punjab's 240,000-acre CRBC command remains without water.
Highlights
- Closure of the Chashma Right Bank Canal is hitting Taunsa farmers hard
- A breach at RD 185 Left in the KP portion on Sept 14, 2026 forced Wapda to stop releases from Chashma Barrage
- Emergency works were awarded on Sept 30 at about Rs385 million, with about 45 days for completion
- The canal’s command area is about 606,000 acres, including about 240,000 acres in Punjab
The closure of Chashma Right Bank Canal (CRBC), especially in its stretch falling in Punjab, has been affecting farmers badly due to inadequate repair and maintenance and water theft, according to Dawn, 5 Nov 2026. The situation worsened after a portion of the CRBC was breached, forcing the Water and Power Development Authority to stop releasing water into the canal from the Chashma Barrage over the Indus, the report said.
A season of extreme shortages
“You cannot imagine the situation we have been in for a long time. In Kharif (April), we received 77pc water shortage, followed by May, June, July and August wherein we witnessed 78pc, 95pc, 98pc and 96pc shortage, respectively, in our command area,” an officer of the Punjab Irrigation Department said, as quoted by Dawn, 5 Nov 2026. “Since September, we have no water and the canal banks have not been repaired. It seems no one is taking this matter on a priority basis,” the official added.
The CRBC is an inter-provincial gravity irrigation system serving KP and Punjab, Dawn reported. Its command area consists of approximately 606,000 acres, of which 240,000 acres are in Punjab, and the main canal is about 274km long, including a 103km reach in Punjab. Groundwater in much of the Punjab command is brackish and unsuitable for irrigation, which leaves farmers with no easy fallback when canal supplies stop. For these farmers, water is only one cost pressure among several, which is why relief steps such as Pakistan’s petrol price cut of Rs5.45 in its second reduction in a week matter to rural households as well — though what Taunsa needs most is repairs on the ground, not announcements.
The breach and the repair timeline
“The situation further deteriorated when a major breach in the main canal at RD 185 Left, within the KP portion, took place on Sept 14, 2026. Head supplies remained suspended on Sept 15 and 16, and the discharge at the Punjab border (RD 513) remained zero from Sept 17 to 30,” the official said, according to Dawn, 5 Nov 2026. Wapda authorities awarded the emergency works for closure of the breach and concrete lining of critical reaches on Sept 30, 2026, at a total bid cost of approximately Rs385 million, with an estimated completion period of about 45 days, the report said.
“Until completion of the works and restoration of canal operation, Punjab area remains deprived of its normal canal supplies,” the official added, as quoted by Dawn. “The closure has disrupted planned irrigation regime in the Punjab command area. The cumulative deficit during the Kharif season, coupled with zero supplies during the latter part of September, has exposed crops to severe water stress and increased the risk of production losses,” he said.
Damage assessment and water theft claims
The official said the actual extent of crop damage and financial loss should be prepared through a properly documented field assessment, including crop-wise and area-wise verification, according to Dawn, 5 Nov 2026. He said the shortage of water supplies to Punjab during the Kharif season was due to illegal extraction and theft of water from the canal by farmers in KP, and that KP irrigation authorities had said as much as 1,000 cusecs of water is allegedly stolen — an allegation reported by Dawn, not an independently verified figure.
For Taunsa’s farmers, the test is simple: whether the roughly 45-day repair window holds and water actually returns to the Punjab reach. Until then, every week without supplies adds to losses that a later assessment can record but cannot undo. Readers following farm costs can also see how Pakistan’s private sector borrowing reached Rs87 billion, a sign of the credit pressure rural businesses face in a hard season.
