ISLAMABAD – The Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) has brazenly acceded its failure to resolve the resettlement issues with people affected by the Mangla Dam’s upraising and the dam would be filled up to 1210 feet again this year, amounting to a loss of two million acre feet (MAF) of water in the Kharif season.
WAPDA made the revelation at a meeting of the technical committee of Indus River System Authority (IRSA) that was convened on Friday to assess the water availability for the upcoming Kharif season and formulate recommendations for water distribution that would be finalised by the IRSA Advisory Committee on March 31.
An official said WAPDA representatives told the meeting that the Mangla reservoir could not be filled more than the old level of 1210 feet, as the affected people had so far not vacated the land. The affected people have already warned the government that they would only vacate the land if they were paid the compensation.
The dam’s new height for collecting water has been raised to 1240 feet and WAPDA had previously assured that the dam would be filled to 1230 feet during this season. During the meeting, Punjab and Sindh criticised WAPDA for its failure to amicably resolve the issue.
They said WAPDA misguided them for a year, as it claim that the reservoir would be test filled initially to 1230 feet during the current monsoon season. The main works of the Mangla Dam raising project had been completed in 2009, but filling of the raised reservoir could not start because of the non-payment to the affected people due to the financial crunch.
WAPDA has to pay Rs 52 billion to the affected people. Sources said the committee was informed that the water availability during the Kharif season would be between 115MAF to 120MAF. The carry forward from the dams is being estimated at 0.7MAF.
