IT seems surprising that neither PTI nor JUI-F ever lays stress on building Kalabagh dam, which could be the only source for supplying a full share of the 14pc promised in the Water Accords of 1991 for irrigating 800,000 acres of virgin land in D.I. Khan.

There is no possibility whatsoever of supplying irrigation water to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa except from Kalabagh dam and a right bank gravity canal from the dam.

This share of water cannot be supplied from any other source except Kalabagh dam.

At present, other provinces use the share of KP for their own purpose in the absence of a storage dam that could store glacier water as also rainwater that is available only below Tarbela dam. The lack of interest of KP leaders in Kalabagh dam defies understanding.

Dr Yaqoob Bhatti

Lahore

Published in Dawn, July 4th, 2015

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