KARACHI, Sept 11: The natural settings and the flow of Indus delta has been disrupted owing to which not only the livelihood of the deltaic people has been destroyed but also the entire ecological system is annihilated.
This was stated in a meeting of the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum with the International Reveres Network Policy Director Peter Bosshard.
The meeting was told that the livelihood of the deltaic people solely depended on the water of the Indus River and Indus delta needed 35 MAF water annually, but the government invariably changed the flow of water.
It was stated that the government had been hiding the actual figures and facts regarding the distributions and management. All decisions were made without the consultation of other provinces, the PPF representatives said.
The IRN official was told that the government had misinterpreted the actual facts and figures published in an initial study conducted by N.G. Abbasi.
The reports of N.G. Abbasi stated that Kotri downstream needed 10 million acres feet water annually but the government replaced the figures 10 with five.
In a detailed briefing on destruction of the agriculture in Sindh since the construction of dams at Indus River, it was stated millions of cultivable land in Sindh province had been rendered barren due to the acute shortage of water in the Indus River.
The construction of Left Bank Outfall Drainage and resultant sea intrusion had destroyed the lives and livelihood of the poor coastal people and left 2.2 million acre cultivable land destroyed and yet its destructive impact continued.
The meeting was informed that all issues related to water were politically handled and imbedded with the power and resources accumulation trends.
The participants build consensus that there should be no more construction of the dam on Indus Delta and the poor people of deltaic region should be saved and their livelihood should be protected through the release of required water and downstream Kotri Barrage.—PPI
