In my previous letter I had given the example of Sindh where the withdrawal in the canals had increased from the pre-Mangla 35.6 maf to the post Tarbela 44.5 maf. This should put at rest any fears that Kalabagh dam will reduce flow in the Indus, in fact Sindh will get an additional 2.257 maf, being its 37% share in the 6.1 maf stored water.
The other apprehension is that Punjab will benefit most since the dam is in Punjab. After the Water Accord of 1991 it is the federal body IRSA which distributes river waters as per agreed shares and the provinces have no direct control over the supply to their canals. The example of Mangla and Tarbela dams is before us where AJK and KPK are not getting any special benefit because the dams are on their territory. Wapda is transmitting power from the dams and IRSA is distributing water. Also Sindh has three votes in IRSA against one vote for Punjab.
It is not fair to deny the country the much needed power and water because of some other equally unfounded fears, particularly when a monitoring team of engineers from the Sindh irrigation department has been posted since long at major headworks of Punjab and have not reported any misappropriation to date.
The politicians have failed us; we can only look up to the media to mould public opinion.
ENGR KHURSHID ANWER
Lahore
What will do moulding public opinion? There is no public opinion nor their any say in matters of national importance. Public, unfortunately, has been made just as dumb driven cattle by the sinister rulers / politicians and their cronies. What have they done with the Nandipur thermal power project? Utter failure. Other thermal power projects they are going to implement (God forbid) might be meeting the similar fate. Moreover, their per unit cost will be so high that not affordable neither to the industry nor public. One wonders that as PM Nawaz Sharief. is a so popular leader ( three times PM), then he should have no problem in going ahead with the Kala Bagh Dam. This could be a litmus test for his popularity.
The parochial mindset and total ignorance about dams of the top leadership of PPP and ANP have turned the people of Sindh and KPK dead against Kalabagh dam, even their assemblies have passed resolutions against the dam, no political party can support Kalabagh dam without losing all support in these provinces, even Musharraf had to back down when faced with an ultimatum that his party PML-Q would not get a single vote in Sindh if he went ahead with Kalabagh dam, Imran Khan is also silent for this reason, the sitting government is also helpless. Public awareness is the key, only the media backed by concerned citizens can educate public opinion, tell the public why we need dams, tell them about the benefits of storage and the very serious consequences of inadequate storage. Fortunately a few newspapers are cooperating in this nation saving task, as well as some TV channels, but a much bigger effort is required.
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