QUETTA, Sept 24: The Balochistan Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution on Monday, calling on the federal government to approve the feasibility report of a desalination plant and release funds for the Shadikor dam in order to provide drinking water to the people of Gwadar.

Minister for Gwadar Development Authority Mir Ammal Kalmati, who had tabled the resolution, said the Akra Kaur dam was a major source of clean water for Gwadar but it had dried up because there were no rains for quite some time.

Mr Kalmati said drinking water to the people of far-flung areas was being supplied through tankers and asked the government to lay a pipeline from the Mirani Dam to Gwadar for the purpose.

Dr Fauzia Marri, Habibur Rehman Muhammadhasni, Jaffar Mandokhel, Maulana Mohammad Wasay and Mir Abdur Rehman Mengal said drinking water was the basic necessity and it was the government’s responsibility to solve the problem on a permanent basis.

They said on one hand the government was making claims that it was turning Gwadar into a seaport of international standard, on the other it had failed to solve the drinking water problem being faced by local people.

The house adopted another resolution moved by Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Mir Abdur Rehman Jamali, asking the provincial government to compensate the people of Naseerabad, Jhal Magsi and Dera Bugti districts for the losses they had suffered because of the floods.

The resolution said that monsoon rains and floodwater from Koh-i-Suleman had destroyed crops on thousands of acres in these districts. The floodwater not only swept away livestock, but also inundated several villages.

The government was urged to declare the districts affected by the floods as calamity hit.

Maulana Wasay, Mr Mandokhel, Tariq Masuri, Zamarak Khan Achakzai and Maulana Ghulam Sarwar spoke on the resolution.

The session, presided over by Deputy Speaker Syed Matiullah Agha, was adjourned till Thursday.