PESHAWAR: Opposition’s role sought in water committee
Bureau Report
PESHAWAR, Dec 24: NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani has called for expanding the scope of the parliamentary committee on water resources, stating that opposition legislators should also be made its member so that joint efforts could be launched for the resolution of national issues.
Talking to members of the committee, headed by Senator Nisar A. Memon, here on Tuesday, the chief minister appreciated the move to establish the committee for finding out solutions to important national issues through meaningful dialogue between the parties concerned.
“In the emerging regional scenario, we should get united and must understand the ground realities and make an effort to exercise cohesion and unity while finding solutions to important national issues,” an official handout issued here on Wednesday quoted the chief minister as saying.
The handout stated that Mr Durrani underlined the need to widen the scope of the committee, giving representation to all political forces to make it a true representative and effective body.
He cited the example of the NWFP government which had constituted a Jirga comprising representatives of all political groups having representation in the provincial assembly for the purpose of taking in-put on provincial issues particularly for the purpose of formulating a joint strategy for the upcoming national finance commission award and the hydel profit issue.
The chief minister also cited the example of India where, he added, parties heading provincial governments, in some of the cases, were sitting on opposition benches in the Centre.
“We too need to promote such traditions because giving weight to public opinion is the essence of democracy and every government has the right to complete its tenure,” the handout quoted the chief minister as saying.
The parliamentary committee paid a two-day visit to the city to discuss the provincial government’s stand on water issue.
The committee, which is supposed to submit its recommendations by June 2004 for the purpose of formulating country’s water strategy, held threadbare discussions with the provincial authorities on Tuesday to know their position on the water accord of 1991, stand on large dams and other issues relating to the country’s water sector and NWFP’s irrigation network.
The chief minister emphasized the need to resolve the long pending issue of Rs335 billion stuck up as arrears against Wapda on account of net hydel profit, and said that Balochistan should also be given its due share on royalty on gas.
The people of the NWFP had suffered because of the Tarbela dam project but their sacrifices had not been given due consideration and if their grievances were not resolved their deprivation would turn into a hatred, he warned. “We should avoid issues harmful to the integrity and solidarity of the country,” the chief minister added.
Referring to the development schemes undertaken by the provincial government in the irrigation and water sectors, the chief minister said his government had evolved a strategy to tap surface water resources to give a boost to the agriculture sector.
The province, he maintained, had planned numerous schemes for the construction of small dams to improve drinking water supply and expand the irrigation network.
