Sindh -Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah said on Thursday that the federal government cannot continue with the controversial Marot Channel Project without Sindh’s consent and warned that Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) would withstand any such feature.

“How can the channel be constructed when it has not even received approval?” Shah asked, opposing the proposed construction during a media briefing in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh.

He declared that as long as PPP exists, the channel would not be built, adding that instead of opposing the channels, some political parties had resorted to protesting against PPP itself.

The Marot Canal is a proposed irrigation channel designed to run from the Sulemanki barrier on the Sutlej River to Fort Abbas in the Cholistan Desert.

Shah, which clarified the current status of the project, said that only preliminary profiling spans a few hundred meters was carried out in July, which does not amount to the start of the construction. He criticized several media for “spreading incorrect information” and called for responsible journalism about the case.

Shah, who highlighted his party’s obligation to defend Sindh’s interests, said PPP was prepared to sacrifice to protect the province’s rights.

He turned to previous accusations that former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto awarded funds to the Kalabagh dam and said such claims had been unfounded and disproved.

Shah emphasized that the constitution requires provinces to be consulted on water -related affairs.

“They cannot avoid this question; the Constitution requires provincial consultation on water issues,” he said, revealing that the Sindh government had repeatedly requested an advice for Common Interests (CCI) to discuss the project but had not yet received an answer.

According to Shah, Indus River System Authority (IRSA) approved Punjab’s request for 0.8 million Acre feet (MAF) water to the Marot Canal project-a decision that has given rise to strong resistance from SINDH.

He noted that Punjab justifies his claim by quoting historical data from 1976 to 2022, showing an average of 27 mafes of water flowing downstream to Kotri barrier annually. While the officially required environmental flow is 8.5 MAF, Shah said the actual requirement should be 10 maf.

However, SINDH maintains that at least 20.5 MAF is necessary to prevent the penetration of seawater and preserve the Indus -Delta ecosystem.

With a current national water shortage of 11 maf and only 8 maf when the Arabian Sea, Punjab claims that the remaining 7 MAF constitutes excess water. Shah warned that further diversion could elaborate on water button in Sindh’s agricultural zones and jeopardize the delta.

He urged Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to officially scrape the Marot Canal project and noted that both the federal and the SIND GOs were already against it in the central development work. He emphasized the need for inter-province harmony and warned against actions that could increase the tension.