Re: India Wins Kishenganga hydro-electric project dispute with Pakista
The pact between India and Pakistan is called "The Indus Water Treaty". That treaty is in tatters because India has repeatedly broken it, bent it, subverted it, and worked around it to reduce the amount of water to Pakistan and increase the amount of water to India.
Lt Gen (r) Hameed Gul has said that India has so far built 62 dams and hydro-electric units on Pakistani rivers to deprive Pakistan of water and render into a desert.
He said Pakistan was being deprived of water under an international conspiracy to conquer it. At this stage, some insane people were opposing construction of Kalabagh Dam in Pakistan, he added. He said that Shaukat Aziz's influx in Pakistan was also part of the conspiracy as he formulated such policies, which put the country into crisis. He said that Shaukat Aziz created food shortage. He said the mujahideeen damaged Baglihar Dam and it could not be reconstructed.
Hameed Gul, however, warned that the mujahideen would damage all dams. Sindh Water Council Chairman Hafiz Zahoor-ul-Hassan Dahr said that when the dispute on water would not be resolved, there would be conflict between the two countries. He said, "India is not building dams under the Indus Water Treaty but on the Pakistani rivers." He said that the food shortage would be forty per cent next year that would increase starvation in the country. He warned, "Pakistan can become Somalia and Ethopia," he added.
According to many experts more than 40% of the Indus water flows into the ocean and is waster. If some of this was placed into a reservoir, this could be held of bad times. Some in Pakistan believe that some water has to flow into the ocean to keep the ocean taking away good land in Sindh. This totally condradicts facts on the ground.
ISLAMABAD: A single-member bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday reprimanded the Cabinet Division (CD) for failing to submit a report on the disruption of river flow Pakistan by Indian dams and their impact on local agriculture.
KBD added to uplift plan: ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan People's Party-led (PPP) government has made the construction of controversial Kalabagh Dam (KBD) part of its development strategy and the project is likely to be completed by 2016, The Post learnt Sunday.
The uplift strategy is in opposition to a public announcement made by Federal Water and Minister Raja Perez Ashraf last month that the project had been shelved forever.
Moreover, the National Economic Council (NEC) held its meeting on June 2, 2008 with Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani in the chair and approved the development strategy.
The strategy was finalised by Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Salman Farooqui on May 30, 2008 in the Medium Term Development Framework 2005-10 (MTDF) and submitted to the government on June 2, 2008 for approval. The framework on page 80 states that the water sector strategy centres around three important elements i.e. water augmentation, water conservation and effective water use. In this context, a comprehensive set of measures for the development and management of water resources are to be formulated and effectively implemented. It includes the development of additional medium and large-size reservoirs, integrated resource use, the introduction of water efficient techniques, containment of environmental degradation, institutional strengthening, capacity building and human resource development, new priority water storage dams i.e. Akhori Dam, Basha-Diamer Dam, Kalabag: h Dam and Munda Dam to be completed by 2016 in addition to the on-going projects such as Raising of Mangla Dam, Gomal Zam Dam, Satpra Dam, Kurram Tangi Dam and Sabakzai dDam."
Describing the MTDF objectives, the document says that the framework envisages enhancing water availability to the tune of 14.67 MAF, reclamation of 3 million acres of waterlogged and saline lands, bringing 3.2 million acres of additional land under irrigation, saving about 8.0 MAF water through improvement of 86,000 water course, and precise levelling of 202 thousand acres of agricultural land.
It is further aimed at catering the increasing demand for drinking water and industrial and commercial activities in a cost-effective manner. The other objectives, the MTDF says, include managing the quality and quantity of drainage effluent in a environmentally safe manner; managing groundwater (both quantitative and qualitative) through tube well transition, implementing integrated food control programme; promoting beneficiary participation in development initiatives; and enhancing the performance of water sector institutions, including effective O&M mechanism, through institutional reforms creation of PIDAs, AWB, and FO's, private sector participation and capacity building.
Salman Farooqui has said that the aim of the Mid-Term Review is to evaluate the performance of the MTDF against its objectives and targets as well as to identify needed adjustments. "The overall results of the evaluation are mixed. While the progress has been made in important areas, at the same time shortcomings have emerged especially on the implementation front."
"These have caused a set-back to the economy but more importantly hardship to the lives of ordinary citizens of the country. These need to be tackled and rectified on an urgent basis. The strategy of the MTDF can help tackle the challenge to combine knowledge based growth with inclusive and equitable development," he concludes. PPP BOWS TO PRESSURE: BUILDING KBD Mohsin Babbar
