HYDERABAD, March 9: Those who have granted approval for the construction of highly controversial Thal canal are guilty before the people of Pakistan and Sindh and the future democratic government will initiate criminal proceedings against the perpetrators of this heinous crime.

This was said by the central information secretary, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Taj Haider, while speaking at meet the press programme at the Hyderabad press club here on Saturday.

Terming the canal project a conspiracy against the federation, he said the way approval was granted for this project had endangered the federation.

He said the malafide intention of the vested interests could be gauged from the fact that in the present era of Internet, the letter about the CDWP meeting sent to the Sindh government dated Feb 4 was received on Feb 11 though the meeting was scheduled for Feb 8.

Similarly, he said, the Ecnec meeting had granted approval for the construction of Thal canal on the ground that five kilometres of the canal had already been constructed.

He said that this was illegal as the project could not be constructed without prior approval of the CDWP and Ecnec.

The former senator said that this was a criminal act on the part of concerned authorities.

He said that the people of Pakistan and Sindh should not be taken for granted and added that they were not as helpless as not to hold the authorities accountable for committing this criminal act.

He said that the dead level of Tarbela Dam was being maintained at 1,369 feet while it could be easily reduced to 1,315 feet.

He said that last week water level at Tarbela was recorded at 1,386 feet and wondered where rest of water had gone just in one week. He added same was the case with Mangla Dam.

The PPP leader pointed out that when even drinking water was not available in many areas of Sindh, 8,000 cusecs of water was being released into the Chashma-Jehlum Link Canal and 3,000 cusecs into the Taunsa-Punjnad Canal.

He recalled that according to the 1970 agreement between Sindh and Punjab, water could be released into the two canals only during floods and added that this agreement was being openly violated.

He alleged the actual reason was that 90 per cent of agricultural land fed by these two canals was the property of generals.

The former senator said that Tarbela and Mangla reservoirs were meant for the storage of water and power generation was only a by-product but they were being used as power generating projects.

According to him, PPP Chairperson Benazir Bhutto had made it clear that she would return to Pakistan and take part in the election campaign regardless of consequences.

He said whether she was allowed to lead PPP election campaign or arrested, the party would not be a loser.

He said that hindering the entry of Benazir into Pakistan by the powers that be was a clear admission of the fact that she was in a position to sweep the polls.

He said that it would become difficult to keep the country intact if a bulwark was not raised against the establishment.

He did not agree with a questioner that the PPP government had allocated funds for the construction of Kalabagh dam. He added that some funds were earmarked for its study but the project had been rejected by the party.