–Employees of SC, FO, BoP, NBP announce donation from salaries
ISLAMABAD: The fund-raising campaign for the Supreme Court’s initiated dam construction project is gradually gathering pace, as various government institutions and private citizens on Wednesday announced to contribute to the national cause from their salaries and life savings.
Supreme Court (SC) employees who are on a Basic Pay Scale (BPS)-16 or above will donate two days’ salary to the Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand Dams Fund 2018, stated a press release by the SC public relations officer said on Wednesday.
The Bank of Punjab will contribute Rs10 million to the fund for the construction of Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand dams, its board decided.
Similarly, employees National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) have voluntarily contributed one day’s salary for the cause.
Meanwhile, the employees of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that their officers will be contributing three days pay, whereas all other staff members will donate one day’s pay to the dam fund.
Officials from the Armed Forces, WAPDA and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) have already announced that they will donate two days’ salary to the fund.
The account for funds has been created by the Finance Ministry in accordance with the apex court’s orders on July 4.
During a hearing on the country’s fast depleting water, the SC while observing that water resources were crucial for survival had directed relevant authorities to take instant action by implementing steps that prove productive in the path to building two dams, the Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand.
“The need for water reservoirs is not only expedient but also essential for the survival of the people and economy of Pakistan. All those present in the court, including officials of various departments and experts on the subject, are unanimous in this regard. They are also unanimous on the point that according to the decision of the Council of Common Interest (CCI) the Diamer-Bhasha dam and pursuant to the approval of the ECNEC both (this and) and Mohmand dam must be built on an urgent basis by the federal government,” Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar had said while passing the order.
The SC then announced that the projects of constructing the 4,500MW Bhasha dam and 700MW Mohmand dam are open to the general public’s donations, including Pakistanis residing abroad.
Chief Justice Nisar initiated donations by contributing Rs1 million from his personal account last week.
According to the SC’s latest statement, all of its employees between BPS-2 and 15 will also contribute to the dam funds by donating one day’s salary for the cause.
Senior lawyers like Chaudhry Zafar Iqbal and Malik Maqbool Siddiq answered the chief justice’s call for donations by donating cheques of Rs100,000.
Female lawyers also chipped in by submitting cheques to Bank Al-Habib’s branch manager who collected donations in the Lahore High Court (LHC). The lawyers who submitted donations in the LHC belong to both the SC and the LHC.
Punjab Interim Chief Minister Hassan Askari also donated Rs0.5m via cheque on Tuesday.
ACCOUNT DETAILS
The Ministry of Finance last week opened the account titled “DIAMER-BHASHA AND MOHMAND DAM FUND –2018” to accept funds for construction of the dams.
The account bears Account No.03-593-299999-001-4 and IBN No.PK06SBPP0035932999990014.
An SC announcement said that payments in the fund will be received at all branches of the State Bank of Pakistan, all treasuries and branches of the National Bank of Pakistan and all other scheduled banks.
