These days, as every year, flood season has arrived in all our rivers. However, the KP seems to be oblivious of the damage inflicted by floods each year. They don’t bother that KBD is the only answer to their troubles of lack of irrigation in DIK and damage to life and property down the line in Punjab and Sindh. Four rivers have confluence near Attock Bridge: Indus, Kabul, Swat and Soan. They all get flooded from rain water which all goes to waste due to lack of storage facility. The only dam that could store rain water as also glacier water is KBD. The press has been crying hoarse that KBD is inevitable but the rulers have a deep slumber in not hearing “awaz-i-khalaq” and only listening to views of vested interest parties best known to them.
It is a pity that whereas India has built 4,000 mega dams and China 27,000 dams, we have only two mega dams to our credit which were built or initiated during dictatorial rule of army. As such our so-called democracy can be called infertile as it could not deliver a single mega hydro electric dam in about four decades since Tarbela and Mangla were built. Recently reports have come that Karachi city is suffering from smoke generated by coal power plants across border in India due to wind flowing in its direction. Would they wake up now from deep slumber and forget coal power plants and generate clean hydel power to yield water and affordable power to masses?
DR MUHAMMAD YAQOOB BHATTI
Lahore