Khalid Mehmood, a small farmer in Khai village, was excited when in 2005 officials of the Irrigation Department informed the villagers about the construction of a small dam.

“We handed over our land which was to fall in the area of the dam to the government thinking that after the construction of the dam we would be able to irrigate our remaiing land,” said Mr Mehmood, who owns a small tract of land near the Khai Dam.

But the dreams of Mr Mehmood and other farmers are yet to materialise as the dam built at a cost of Rs154 million remains useless since 2008 when its construction was completed.

“Twelve years have passed but this dam has not been made operational,” he said.

According to a document obtained by Dawn from the Irrigation Department, the Khai Dam failed because of its defective irrigation channel.

Besides Khai Dam there are four other dams in the area that have also failed to irrigate land due to their defective channels.

These are Dharabi Dam, Lakhwal-Uthwal Dam, Minwal Dam and Jamal Dam (Jamal Dam falls in the area of Rawalpindi district). Whereas some dams such as Mundee Dam, Dhoke Jhang Dam, Ghurabh Dam and Ghazial Dam are hardly irrigating 50pc of the area which means they are also not functioning properly.

Arrar Mughlan Dam which was completed recently is yet to start irrigation.

The then Punjab government led by Chaudhry Pervez Elahi constructed a number of small dams in Potohar region from 2004 to 2007 in a bid to boost the agriculture production by providing irrigation system to farmers of the area which mainly depends on rain. Unfortunately, these dams have failed to make an impact on the lives of the farmers due to faults in the design of their channels.

Dharabi Dam, which is considered the largest in the area, was supposed to irrigate 6,400 acres belonging to dozen of villages.

The construction of Dharabi Dam started in 2005 and had to be completed in 2007 but due to the administrative lethargy it was completed in 2012. The construction of the dam cost the public exchequer Rs368.441m but even after eight years of its construction the dam remains useless for the farmers.

A canal was built which passed through the land of many villages but due to the fault in its design the lengthy canals spreading over 30km failed to irrigate even an inch of land. This canal has crumbled and now only its remains are there.

Lakhwal-Uthwal Dam also offers the pathetic tale. Work on its construction started on March 11, 2008, and the dam was to be completed in two years at a cost of Rs449.861m. But due to administrative hitches the project completed in 2012. The dam was supposed to irrigate the land of Ballo Kassar, Uthwal, Lakhwal, Dhoke Parwana and Dhoke Dabri villages. But even after eight years of its completion, the dam could not irrigate a single piece of land due to flaws in the design of its canals. Moreover, the district administration has not paid a single penny to the farmers whose land was acquired for the dam.

“We have lost our precious land to the construction of this dam,” complained Haji Gul Mohammad, an old farmer from Uthwal village. Ghulam Ali, another farmer from Lakhwal village, lost 15 acres which was engulfed by the dam but like many other farmers of the area he is yet to get compensation even 12 years after the land acquisition.

“Many farmers have died while waiting for compensation while many others are suffering badly as they own small chunk of lands which fell victim to the construction of the dam,” added Ghulam Ali.

“We dreamt that we would be able to reap bumper crops due to this dam but our dreams have been shattered as this dam brought misery to us,” said Mohammad Rafique of Lakhwal.

Ironically, these dams have been turned into fish farms and the Punjab government is earning millions of rupees by renting them for fish farming.

“The government is reaping money from these dams but we are getting nothing,” said Ahmed Nawaz.

A dam built in Minwal village is also lying useless while the officials of Irrigation Department claim that farmers of the surrounding villages are not interested in irrigating their land.

When Dawn approached the farmers, they told a different story. “This dam has been constructed without any proper irrigation system,” said Chaudhry Khaliq, a landowner in the Minwal village.

“How could a farmer who looks up to the sky for rain throughout the year be least interested in irrigating his land,” he observed.

PML-N Senator from Chakwal retired Gen Abdul Qayum raised the issue of these dams in the upper house during previous government of his party. An inquiry was conducted but to no avail.

Sub-Divisional Officer in the Irrigation Department Pervaiz Bosal told Dawn that a revised PC-I for the rehabilitation of the dams had been prepared which was yet to be approved by Planning and Development Department.

When contacted, Senator retired Gen Abdul Qayum said: “It seems a hefty amount of public money has been frittered away without any sense of guilt.”

He said he would soon raise the issue in the Senate again.

According to the project director of Small Dams Organisation, who requested not to be named, rehabilitation of the non-functional dams is being considered and soon a decision would be made.

He admitted that designs of the channels of the dams went awry due to which these dams could not be made operational.

Published in Dawn, March 15th, 2020