LAHORE – A petition has been moved to the Supreme Court Lahore Registry on Monday for early hearing of a petition for Kalabagh Dam (KBD) construction to meet growing energy needs and save Pakistan from floods and draughts. The application was filed by barrister Zafar Ullah Khan submitting that his petition despite being linked to an important national issue was pending in the Supreme Court since 1996 which showed the collapse of Pakistan’s judicial policy. He said compared to it a similar petition relating to water resources usage was filed in India in 2002 and it was decided in 2005.
He said Indian government while implementing the court directions built hundreds of canals and dams for its agricultural growth and country’s energy needs’ fulfillment. The petitioner contended that India had planned to construct about 190 dams (hydro power projects) on Chenab, Jehlum and Sind rivers flowing into Pakistan to generate 33,000 MW of electricity within the next six years while Pakistan government was still indecisive on the need of constructing dams owing to petty differences between provinces.
He said India was going to regulate water supply to Pakistan particularly in sowing seasons by imposing a water war on Pakistan which had still made no plans to meet its water and energy needs. He said international water sharing law is unsure and Pakistan should its rivers’ water before India builds dams on those rivers. He said water was a natural resource and Pakistani nation, instead of utilizing the resource, had wasted water by letting it fall in the ocean unused.
He said there were 45000 dams throughout the world but Pakistan had only five dams. He added that compared this to India and China had 3000 and 4500 dams respectively. He said Pakistan could generate cheapest electricity which might be available at a rate of Rs 2 per unit whereas currently it was being purchased at a rate of Rs 12 per unit from independent power producers (IPPs) only due to poor planning.
The petitioner said if KBD were functional in 1993, it could have preserved 2737 billion cubic feet gas by 2010, adding that national needs could be fulfilled by hydro power instead of depleting gas reserves.
