KARACHI: Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Friday expressed serious concern at the accelerated rate with which the most fertile lands of Badin and Thatta districts are being eroded by the sea water.
Bilwal pointed out that Inter Provincial Water Accord 1991 recognised that there is need of escape of sufficient quantities of water downstream of Kotri to check sea erosion.
“It has been more than 25 years since the accord but the sea continues to devour our coastal villages and most fertile lands. Indus River System Authority which was authorized to implement the water accord has not been able to determine that sufficient quantity of downstream Kotri flow of water,” he added.
Bilawal said that calculations of water availability in the Indus River system given by the seven experts, including G N Abbasi Committee constituted by General Musharraf, vary from plus 32 MAF to Minus 14 MAF.
Every expert may have a separate reason to arrive at these figures that differ by a good 46 MAF, but what we know for sure is and our peasants are seeing with their own eyes the fact that sea waves are advancing on lands where just a few years back lush green crops and fruit orchards existed, he said while comparing the status quo with the past.
The PPP chairman questioned as to why we were losing fertile land to the sea on a daily basis, adding that we have no option other than rejecting these fancy claims and figures as false and concocted.
He accused Indus River System Authority (IRSA) of not paying any attention to this serious problem which should be alarming for every Pakistani. He vowed that the PPP will give priority to protect Pakistan’s land which is going to the sea if it comes to power in the centre after the next general elections
