The annual floods in Sindh are the effect and not the cause. It is important to look at the cause and not only at the effect. A major cause of the floods in Sindh is the flood waters of the tributaries of the Indus which flow unchecked to Sindh. Tarbela dam and any other dam to the north of it cannot trap the flood waters of Kabul, Chitral, Haro and Soan rivers. Without bigger water reservoirs up north, the flood waters of these rivers will keep wreaking havoc in south Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan. To keep worrying about the effect without addressing the cause does not make any sense.
Another cause of these floods is the lackof repair of tributaries, embankments and dykes in all the provinces. The agricultural department cannot indulge in post-disaster damage control and must take preventative measure. Given global climate change, flooding and disaster management should be paid greater attention to.
KHURSHID ANWER
Lahore
The only site available on the Indus river for a dam large enough to trap the flood waters of Kabul, Chitral, Haro and Soan is at Kalabagh. The shares of water from Kalabagh dam have been predetermined under the Water Accord of 1991, 37% each for Punjab and Sindh despite the vast difference between the population and the area under cultivation. Punjab made this concession to Sindh to allay its apprehensions regarding Kalabagh dam. Under the Accord a federal body IRSA was entrusted with distribution of river waters. The provinces can only raise ten-day indents of their requirements and have no direct control over the supply to their canals. In an unprecedented move engineers from the Sindh irrigation department were deputed at major head works of Punjab. They are in daily communication with their head office and have not reported any misapropriaton of water to-date. There is urgent need to disseminate this information to the public to smooth the way for the construction of a dam which alone can revive Pakistan's economy. Bhasha dam will be too little too late.
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