ISLAMABAD, July 2: Sindhu Bachao Tarla has warned the Punjab Irrigation Department and the World Bank (WB) that people displaced and affected by the Taunsa Barrage remodelling project would start a movement against the project if their demands were not met until July 8.

The Sindhu Bachao Tarla (Save Indus Struggle) is a broader people’s alliance comprising inland fisher folk, indigenous people, small farmers, academia and social and environmental activists.

It had submitted a memorandum to the Punjab Irrigation Department and had threatened to launch a movement against the WB-funded water project in case the affected people were not included in the policymaking process.

According to the organisation, the project implemented in southern Punjab had displaced 200 families whose resettlement and livelihood was a major issue. Due to the project, canal closure right at the time of Rabbi, project induced water logging, river erosion and loss of livelihood are directly and indirectly impacting millions of people who have lost their lands and cannot grow crops.

It said the WB-funded Taunsa Barrage Emergency Rehabilitation and Modernisation Project (TBERMP) not only cost a number of families their livelihood and shelter, but also closed the canals.

Dozens of women, men and children from the affected communities including inland fisherfolk, indigenous people, and civil society had observed hunger strikes in front of the World Bank offices in Islamabad in February to register their protest. They had demanded the WB to settle down the issues of displacement and resettlement.

Since its inception, according to the organisation, the project had caused unbearable sufferings to local communities and involved massive losses and damages to their livelihoods.

The canals irrigating millions of acres in Dera Ghazi Khan and Muzaffargarh districts are closed every year in the winter seasons, which not only result in large income and livelihood losses but also create acute drinking water crisis.