LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar on Saturday announced that one-month salary of Punjab cabinet ministers will be contributed to the fund established for the construction of Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand dams.
“Construction of dams is the need of the hour,” Buzdar said while chairing a provincial cabinet meeting.
“The Punjab cabinet fully supports Prime Minister Imran Khan’s step towards curbing water crisis in the country,” he added.
On Friday, Prime Minister Imran Khan, during an address to the public, said that “the largest problem is the water issue in the country”.
The prime minister explained that building dams was of critical importance for Pakistan.
Khan expressed appreciation for Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar over his initiative to collect funds for the construction of dams, adding that “experts say if we do not make dams we will face a drought in seven years. We have to start making dams from today”.
CJP Nisar initiated the dam fund in July this year.
The prime minister said that the CJP’s dam fund and the fund created by the federal government would be combined into a single account and urged overseas Pakistanis to contribute at least $1000 each.
Rs1.93 billion were collected in the fund as of September 6.