Saqib Farid in his excellent article ‘Kalabagh Dam must to boost economy’ has said it is time we remove all the reservations and misperceptions of the parties involved.
May I point out that this has already been done under the Water Apportionment Accord of 1991 which was entered into specifically for building consensus on Kalabagh dam.
Why else would Wapda have been replaced with IRSA? Would Punjab have agreed to a reduction in its share in order to increase Sindh’s share in all future dams without consensus on the dam? Would engineers from the Sindh irrigation department have been deputed at major head works of Punjab otherwise?
Would the Accord have allotted 37 and 14 percent shares to Punjab and KPK and not made provision for their utilisation through the left and right bank canals? Lands in D I Khan are 100 to 150 feet above river level and cannot get water from any dam on the Indus without the Right Bank canal at Kalabagh dam.
Sindh is a signatory to the Accord which states, “All the provinces agree to the necessity of building more dams on all the rivers including on the Indus”. All that is required is to remind the provinces about their commitment.
KHURSHID ANWER
Lahore