WHEN nine years ago, Irfan Akbar turned a small area of one of the major torrents of Chakwal, Dharab into a lake, no official from the concerned department dared to notice. Irfan Akbar, a resident of Bikhari Kalan village, is in his early 40s and had studied till 8th grade. After making a lake, he dug a tunnel 75 feet long, built a canal of 4km, connecting it with the tunnel.

Some retired military officials, bureaucrats and industrialists were attracted by the serenity of Dharabi Valley and they built farmhouses. The water from the lake flew into this canal through a tunnel and through the canal it was utilised by the nearby farmhouses.

Irfan Akbar started fish farming at the lake and the venture went well. In 2021 he set out for a greater mission, blocked the Dharab torrent by constructing a mud wall of 20 feet high. Thus the small lake was turned into a mini-dam. No official again took notice. TV channels and digital media outlets lauded Irfan’s venture as if it were a wonder of hydraulic engineering.

“I have built the dam on my own land by spending a hefty amount of Rs40m”, Irfan told Dawn and added that before constructing the dam, he had visited many sites. As the dam was filled to make the most of its water, Irfan built a dozen of fish ponds which were used to be filled through the canal.

Abdul Rehman and his five brothers from Thatta settled here along with their families for fish farming.

Dharab torrent which rises from the hills of Kallar Kahar is in fact an affluent of the greater Gabhir which flows to its parallel. Dharab merges into Gabhir near Nain Sukh village and the former joins the Sowan River near Muthrala.

The winding Dhrab has a vast bed between Bikhari Kalan and Dharabi villages and its bed is full of dry sand which offers a lucrative business to many who have managed to acquire the leases from the Punjab Mines and Minerals Department.

According to Punjab Irrigation, Drainage and Rivers Act 2023, all the water rights vest in the government. The law clearly states that a mini-dam cannot be built without prior permission, and it must be built under the supervision of a qualified engineer and after its construction a certificate to store water in it is also required. As per the law, each dam and other major water reservoirs must be listed and registered with the Irrigation Department and a canal officer is bound to inspect each dam twice in a year.

Although no official of the concerned departments dared to inquire Irfan how he built the dam without getting prior permission from the Punjab Irrigation Department and how he built a dam on a major torrent, some villagers whose agriculture land was submerged in the water approached the then deputy commissioner Chakwal Quratul Ain Malik. The DC referred the matter to the additional deputy commissioner revenue (ADCR) who after conducting an inquiry ordered for the demolition of the dam on December 27, 2023.

Irfan got a stay order against the order. The legal battle was going on when Irfan’s dam was washed away by the unprecedented rain which battered the area on July 16 and 17.

Like Irfan, scores of other farmers have built mini-dams in Potohar Region without following the law. The authorities did not have the exact data of these dams but they started collecting it in the wake of collapses of many such water reservoirs due to July 16 and 17 torrential rain.

As per the preliminary list (available with Dawn), Chakwal tops in Rawalpindi Division having 130 mini-dams besides 24 government owned small dams (14 in Chakwal and 10 in Talagang) following by Attock, Jhelum, and Rawalpindi which have 104, 44 and 38 mini-dams respectively.

In Chakwal, many such dams collapsed due to the rain and they over-swelled the torrents which caused widespread destruction. As many of these dams collapsed, so did the dreams of the farmers who suffered major loss in terms of infrastructure, irrigation and fish framing.

Four departments - Soil Conservation, Water Management, Agency for Barani Areas Development, and Forest and Wildlife Department - help farmers in building these dams while Small Dams Division (a branch of Irrigation Department) builds only small dams. But as per the law, it is the duty of the Small Dams Division to supervise these mini-dams too. There are many other mini-dams which farmers built on their own without the assistance from any government department.

“These dams are inevitable as they help in boosting the rural economy due to fish farming and irrigation, they also help in maintain the underground water level and acting major water sources for the cattle and wildlife plus adding the natural beauty”, says Executive Engineer Small Dams Division Chakwal Naeemul Hassan.

“But these dams must be built as per the rules and regulations”, he hastens to add.

When asked why these dams were not checked by the concerned authorities, he replied that in the past this issue remained neglected. “Work is under process to chalk out a comprehensive strategy in this regard”, he maintained.

Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2025