September 17, 2007	Monday	Ramazan 04, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Sept 16: Hundreds of families in four districts of Potohar are feared to be displaced or deprived of their livelihoods by the proposed Barani integrated water resource sector project, sources in the Punjab irrigation and power department told Dawn.

The provincial government has made a request to the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to fund the project to be implemented in Rawalpindi, Attock, Jhelum and Chakwal districts.

The project envisages the construction of a number of medium-sized dams, water reservoirs and watersheds as well as some drinking water supply schemes.

The would-be managers of the project have devised a midway between the ADB resettlement and rehabilitation rules that are steeped in international best practices and the government of Pakistan’s policy having its foundation in the colonial era’s land acquisition system, which badly affects properties and livelihoods coming in the way of development projects with meagre or no compensation money.

An environmental effect assessment study carried out by the Punjab government shows that hundreds of households in different parts of the four districts would either be displaced or deprived of their livelihoods. They would need resettlement and rehabilitation at a considerable level.

Agriculture and livestock have been the traditional sources of revenue for the people living in Barani areas, and account for 40 per cent of their income in Punjab. With the increasing fragmentation of landholdings and little progress in improving agricultural productivity, a major portion of the population has moved to the off-farm sectors in big cities or abroad for livelihood opportunities.

Remittances sent by these migrants have become the second most important contribution to Barani household earnings and play a key role in supplementing agricultural incomes to sustain the local economy. Although, migration may appear as a suitable and necessary strategy for some of the excess labour force, Barani areas still remain home to many people. Improvement of their income, especially for a large majority of small landholders and tenants, will depend to a large extent on gains from agricultural and livestock productivity and growth in the local non-farm sector.

The project would also require the acquisition of some agricultural land at a number of places where people are likely to be displaced, an official at the irrigation department said.

He said the project would also have many positive impacts as it would provide irrigation water security to the drought-prone area with no or very few secured water sources.

But still rehabilitation of the affected people would emerge as a challenge for the government. He said litigations by the affected people were also expected. Valuation of the land to be acquired would also be an issue, as the owners would not accept the official rate which was not even half of the market price.

There are 15 to 20 sub-projects in the BIWRSP covering an area of 1,000 to 2,000 square kilometers representing about 10 percent of the total Barani area of Potohar.

According to the Punjab government’s environment assessment study, catchment areas in Potohar are mainly rain-fed agricultural lands interspersed with Barren tracts, rangelands and some forests or plantations. Watershed conservation measures are anticipated to have environmental benefits and so watershed development activities are not anticipated to have any significant environmental impacts. Covering a large number of watersheds would put a large area under more sustainable land use and natural resource management.

The study says small dam reservoirs do create different habitats and will affect the microclimate, generally attracting more species and will be positive in terms of landscape value and biodiversity. Loss of assets and resources in the impoundment areas will be local and will be addressed in the individual land acquisition and resettlement procedures for the sub-projects.