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| December 20, 2005 | Tuesday | Ziqa’ad 17, 1426 |
All legislatures to be consulted on dam issue, says minister
PESHAWAR, Dec 19: Federal Minister for Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis Ghulam Sarwar Khan has said that the federal government would take all provinces and parliament into confidence if it decides to built the Kalabagh dam, which had been largely politicized by certain forces.
Speaking at the “Mulaqaat” programme of the Khyber Union of Journalists (KhUJ) here on Monday, the minister said that the federal cabinet in its next meeting would discuss in details the report of the technical committee on water reservoirs and if the Kalabagh dam was found feasible then there should be no further delay in the execution of the project.
However, he added, after approval by cabinet it should be debated in National Assembly, and Senate and in all provincial assemblies to build consensus on the issue.
The Kalabagh dam is purely a technical issue and if the technical committee, having equal representation from all federating units, approved its construction of the dam there was justified.
Mr Khan said that President General Musharraf was in favour of taking all provinces into confidence regarding construction of big dams and for this purpose the president had hinted at providing more shares in the federal divisible pool fund at upcoming NFC Award.
The minister said that construction of big water reservoirs in the country was need of the hour and if we fail to utilize the rivers’ water for production of hydel power and irrigation purposes within next three years then it would be big blow for our economic, industrial and agricultural development.
“I am not talking about a specific dam but all (the dams) including Bhasha, Skardu, Munda and other should be built on priority basis if they are more feasible and required less cost and time,” he added.
Answering a question, he said that all the resolutions being passed by the provincial assemblies were based on politics and now we should think above politics keeping in view the national issues like Kalabagh dam. He said that though some people would be affected with the construction of the dam but as a whole large number of population would be benefited in shape of cheap electricity and vast agricultural produce.
About the threats and resignations from assemblies by some political parties, he said that the Awami National Party (ANP) had few seats in parliament and with their resignations would leave no big effect.
Mr Khan said that his ministry would build two model villages in earthquake-hit areas of NWFP and Azad Kashmir, which would consist 100 houses each along with basic facilities like schools, hospital and electricity.
He said that in this connection he met with NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani to identify area in the affected areas where such village could be established. He said that the model villages will be completed at estimated of cost Rs 700 million.
Similarly, he said that the NWFP had utilized maximum fund under Worker Welfare Fund as compared to rest of the provinces and for the last three years had utilized Rs 1,028 million out of Rs 1,829 million whereas for the current year the provincial labour department had proposed schemes of Rs 549 million. Answering to another question, he showed dissatisfaction over the performance of Overseas Pakistanis Foundation and said that it would improved for the welfare of Pakistanis working abroad.
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