There is an increasing number of programmes on TV on the energy crisis but surprisingly no mention is made of the obvious remedy – a mega dam at the earliest. Industry needs mega quantities of power, also for ending load-shedding, and agriculture needs mega quantities of water. If dead storage is not replaced with live storage, we will end up with no storage.
When an issue is of such vital importance for the 18 crore people of the country, the answer is not to adopt pin drop silence about it but to thrash out the pros and cons to try and find a solution.
Kalabagh dam has been politicised badly and there are a lot of apprehensions about it. Sindh fears that the flow in the Indus will decrease because of the dam. Kalabagh dam (KBD) will not interfere with the flow of the river as it will store only the surplus water during the three months of flood for use during the remaining nine months. The flow in the Indus will actually increase when Sindh’s share is released into it.
To think otherwise is to deny that Mangla and Tarbela dams have been sustaining the industry and agriculture of Pakistan for the last 44 and 37 years respectively and have lost only a third of their capacities.
Since the flow in the Indus will increase rather than decrease, KBD will not have any adverse effect on the Indus delta which is another misapprehension. Only more storage can provide the delta with regulated flow over the twelve months.
Sindh fears that because of the location of Kalabagh dam, Punjab will take more water at the cost of Sindh. The fact is that under the Water Apportionment Accord, Punjab has agreed to a reduction in its share in order to increase Sindh’s share in all future dams despite Punjab having 70 percent of total crop area of the country and bearing 80 percent of the total agriculture burden.
Sindh will get all the benefits of power and water without the loss of even one acre of land or the displacement of even one person.
Similarly KP objections to Kalabagh dam do not hold any water and can be easily explained away. Without the right bank canal at Kalabagh dam, KP will never get any water from the any dam on Indus. Same is true about the north Punjab.
Is it not an irony that the farmers in Punjab who have been crying for Kalabagh dam for decades should get no water and the Sindh farmers who have been opposing it for the same period should get all the water?
ENGR KHURSHID ANWER
Lahore
