Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Main Iftikhar Hussain on Monday said Kalabagh Dam was a “dead horse” that could not be given life. “Kalabagh Dam is a dead issue and it is time to build smaller dams in the province, as larger dams have already become more dangerous than atomic bombs,” the minister said while speaking on a point of order on in the provincial assembly on Monday.
He said it would be major disaster if Tarbela Dam suffered some damage, therefore, smaller dams had become the need of the hour. The assembly session was held under the chairmanship of Speaker Kiramatullah Khan and was witness to the tabling of three bills. Opposition leader Akram Khan Durrani said the provincial assembly had already passed three resolutions against Kalabagh Dam and there was no need to bring other resolutions on the issue. “Instead of giving weight to the issue of Kalabagh Dam, it is better to ignore it as we all oppose its construction,” the opposition leader remarked.
He said it was disappointing that a court passed a verdict in its favour despite three of the four provinces rejecting the proposal.
Information Minister Mian iftikhar said the government had approved 24 projects to construct smaller dams in the province in which three were under construction and would generate 24 Megawatts of electricity.
“It is better for Punjab to generate electricity from coal reserves in Chakwal instead of disusing the issue of a controversial dam. Our leaders have already said that it is a matter of our lives and we will not even accept a decision of the Supreme Court in this regard,” he added. The government introduced three bills in the assembly on Monday, including the bill against Ghag, a customary practice in the tribal belt in which a person lays Ghag or claim on a girl which implies that no one else can marry that girl.
The girl’s family is then bound to marry the girl to the claimant and anyone else wishing to marry the girl has to deal with him first, else it means bloody feud with the family.
Other bills included the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Medical Transplantation Regularity Ordinance 2012, presented by Main Iftikhar on the behalf of Health Minister Zahir Shah, while the third was Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Implement of Wages Bill of 2012, tabled by Minister of Manpower Saleem Khan.
