Asif dismisses ‘water terrorism’ by India

Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif dismissed on Monday the impression that vast areas of Pakistan came under flood water due to “water terrorism” by India.

Addressing the Senate, Asif said heavy rain occurred in Indian-held Kashmir and Pakistan at the same time and the time to respond to flood was only three to four hours.

Responding to various points raised by senators, the minister, who also holds the portfolio of defence ministry, rejected the notion that electricity prices were increased by the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

“If tariff is increased on one side, the government has reduced surcharge on another to benefit the consumers,” he said, adding that no additional burden was passed on the consumers by reducing the surcharge.

The minister said as per the policy of the government, work on Kalabagh Dam would not be started without the consensus of the provinces.

He refuted the impression that water had been stored in Mangla Dam despite information that heavy rain is expected in the coming days. “The Met office in its regular briefing informed about less than unusual rain during monsoon season.”

Asif said the World Bank (WB) has also showed willingness to finance the Diamer-Bhasha dam in a recently held conference besides provision of finance to Dasu dam. Bhasha dam would be constructed in three phases, he added.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) minister said that with the construction of Bhsaha dam, life of Tarbela dam would be increased by 35 years more. He said that the government would focus on preventing measurers to stop flood in future.

Regarding payment of circular debt, the minister said that major portion of circular debt was paid to state-owned enterprises including Pakistan State Oil (PSO). He said that proper audit was carried out in the payment of Rs 480 billion circular debt. Circular debt has again surged to Rs240 billion, he added. However, he said that the reasons for surfacing the circular debt could not be removed so far. He said that the government was making all out efforts to sort out the circular debt issue that would take some time to be resolved.

Asif said that various cheap power generation agreements of about 10,400 MW with China have been delayed due to protest sits-ins by Imran Khan’s PTI and Tahirul Qadri’s PAT in the federal capital.

The country’s economy suffered a lot due to the sits-in, he added.

The minister said that around 1500 MW electricity could be conserved by adopting various measures including closures of markets by 8pm.