ISLAMABAD, Dec 2: The Senate on Monday announced formation of a special committee of the house to suggest steps required to be taken by the government to address challenges the country could face in near future because of water scarcity.

The announcement was made by Senate Deputy Chairman Sabir Baloch at the conclusion of a debate on the motion moved by an independent senator sitting on the treasury benches, Mohsin Leghari.

Moving the motion on “the importance of water in our national economy” and steps required to be taken by the government “to address the growing water scarcity in the country”, Mr Leghari cautioned that the country would soon become a “water scarce” if immediate measures were not taken.

The committee will be constituted in consultation with Leader of House Raja Zafarul Haq and Leader of Opposition Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan.

Before discussion on the water issue, the house witnessed some fiery speeches by opposition senators calling for the review of the procedure for appointment of judges of superior courts.

The leader of the house informed senators that a committee headed by PPP senator and former law minister, Farooq Naek, was already functioning to review the procedure for judges’ appointment.

ANP’s Ilyas Bilour moved the Civil Servants (Amendment) Bill, 2013, blocking promotion of dual nationality holder civil servants on posts in BPS-20 or equivalent and above. The bill was referred to the committee for a report.

Initiating the debate on the water shortage issue, Senator Leghari regretted that the focus of the Ministry of Water and Power was more on electricity and energy than water conservation that was its primary responsibility.

He said both Tarbela and Mangla dams had initially been built to serve as water reservoirs and electricity generated through them was only a bi-product.

Senator Leghari said successive governments did not pay attention to the water issue which had now started to turn into a disaster.

Senator Haji Adeel of ANP regretted that the government had not allocated any amount in the budget for the construction of small dams, particularly Munda Dam in Mohmand Agency.

He alleged that Punjab’s farmers were paying huge amount as ‘Aabiyana’ (water charges from canals) to their provincial government despite the fact that it was getting water from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa free of cost.

PPP’s Senator Farhatullah Babar suggested that the house committee should look into another important aspect of wasteful use of water resources.

JUDGES APPOINTMENTS: Taking part in the debate on the motion on the issue of judges’ appointment moved by Farhatullah Babar in the previous session, senators from PPP, ANP and PML-Q expressed resentment over the reduced role of the parliamentary committee in judges’ appointment.

The senators were of the view that if the parliamentary committee had no powers to reject the nomination of judges by the Judicial Commission for the appointment of the judges, then it should be abolished.

Senator Saeed Ghani termed the passage of 19th Amendment a big mistake by the parliament which, according to him, had fallen into a ditch that it had dug for itself. He said the Supreme Court had not issued its detailed judgment in the 18th Amendment case and a sword was still hanging over it.

The Senate will meet again on Tuesday morning at 11am.