March 26, 2003	Wednesday	Muharram 22, 1424

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DERA GHAZI KHAN, March 25: The government has started work on Katchi canal without the approval of its Planning Comm-ission 1, reports said on Monday.

President Gen Pervez Musharraf had laid the foundation stone of the canal at Taunsa barrage on Oct 4, 2002. It is learnt that on the president’s orders, the authorities concerned had started the work without PC 1 approval. According to the rules, no project can be executed without the approval of it’s PC 1, which includes cost and design. An estimated cost of the project is Rs32 billion.

According to sources, file of the PC 1 has been sent to the planning commission, which was taking time in approving the project. The canal will irrigate 713,000 acres in Balochistan. The corporate farming will be introduced at the canal, which is 500-kilometre-long (300 km in Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur).

It will carry 6,000 cusecs irrigation water from the Taunsa barrage. Those farmers, who get water from Dera Ghazi Khan canal through lift pumps from its right bank to irrigate their land in Pachad, will be facilitated by the administration of the Katchi canal, as their water pipes can cross the canal.

Besides, the canal will pass along side the western bank of the Dera Ghazi Khan canal. After the completion of the project, it will be handed over to the Balochistan irrigation department.