THATTA: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Senator Sassui Palijo on Friday called for taking elected representatives and other stakeholders on board before going for the execution of the gigantic Sindh barrage project.

Speaking to the media at the local press club, she cautioned that without taking elected representatives and other stakeholders of the deltaic districts on board, execution of the barrage project would create distrust among people of Sindh. She stressed the need for evolving a general consensus on the project keeping in view people’s sentiments.

She said she personally neither liked nor disliked the project but she felt it her responsibility to speak out on behalf of those stakeholders who had some reservations. Different views of people belonging to Thatta, Sujawal, Badin and Malir districts must be heard, she said, and added that she was obliged to put up their case. She said being an elected representative from this region, she had the legitimate right to be kept on board.

Referring to the Right Bank Outfall Drain (RBOD) and Left Bank Outfall Drain (LBOD), she said both these mega projects cost billions of rupees but served nothing. Rather, they had turned hundreds of thousands of acres within the coastal areas hyper saline and also ruined mangrove forests. Resultantly, an alarming level of sea intrusion was being witnessed which destroyed more than 1.4 million acres of fertile land besides the environment. Lower Sindh was suffering colossal losses due to the situation, she observed.

Senator Palijo pointed out that while the RBOD could not be completed over a period of almost two decades, it had started causing irreparable damage to Haleji Lake (one of Asia’s biggest bird sanctuaries and a Ramsar site), Keenjhar Lake, Bhambhore and other such historical sites.

“I fully realise the water requirement of the huge population of Karachi which must be met but I also have reservations over the execution of the K-IV project, which is probably going to affect Keenjhar’s outlet system. The daily water requirement of Thatta and Sujawal districts is not being considered,” she said.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2020