After 1973 floods, I met a young man near Wazirabad, who narrated how his house with his entire family was engulfed under a 20 feet high wave of Chenab river flood. This made me vow to find the real cause of such a high flood, which devastated the entire area and the national economy.
I raised this question in the flood commission, proving that the real cause of such high flood in the Chenab river was due to the 15 feet high solid wall of Khanki weir, which had raised the bed level at Wazirabad by 8 feet since 1923.
Since then I had been demanding provision of flood gates in Khanki weir, like the barrages, besides similar action at other such weirs also, on various forums. Last year I saw the picture of Khanki weir on the TV screen, with such gates, to my satisfaction, that Almighty Allah had kindly granted success to my efforts.
A similar campaign was launched by me after I saw a large breach in the railway line in Spezand-Koh-i-Taftan, some time in 1982. I carried out a thorough research, about all the breaches during the year, to find that Pakistan is wasting away millions of acre feet of water every year, which could be easily stored through economical subsoil clay walls and used for irrigation, creating a green revolution with consequent prosperity for the large area of Balochistan, easing their sense of deprivation.
My research article was published in newspaper. Since then, I have been pursuing this subject at various forums. I am sure your good offices could help achieve this proposal to bring a green revolution in Balochistan, considerably easing the sense of deprivation amongst the people, apart from bringing prosperity for Pakistan itself.
S M H RIZVI
Karachi
