MUZAFFARABAD, Oct 31: A technical committee, set up to ascertain the drinking water needs of the southern town of Mirpur, will meet there on Friday to finalize its recommendations for the federal water and power ministry , it was learnt here on Sunday.
The committee, comprising the Mangla dam affairs' commissioner, the project director of the Mangla dam raising project and a representative of the project consultants, held one round of discussions last month in Islamabad during which grounds for verification were determined, such as population of the area, per capita water allowance and population growth rate over the projected period (25 years), an official source told Dawn.
According to the estimates of the AJK government, a total of 202.55 cusecs (108.9 MGD) water is required to meet domestic, industrial and fish/dairy farms demands of Mirpur, including the suburbs of Khaliqabad and Chatarpari, and the establishments of the Pakistan army in the area. Of this 109.5 cusecs would be required for domestic water needs, 74.4 cusecs for industrial use and 18.6 cusecs for the development of fish/dairy farms in the area.
These estimates were sent to the ministry of water and power with the request that the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) be asked to meet the requirements from the Mangla reservoir.
In accordance with clause 6.2 of Mangla dam upraising agreement, signed between the governments of the AJK and Pakistan, Wapda has to provide drinking water to Mirpur from the Mangla reservoir.
The technical committee meeting, to be held in Mirpur, would finalize recommendations for the federal water and power ministry regarding the quantity of water required in Mirpur and its suburbs, the source said, adding he was sure that the committee's assessment would not be much different from the AJK government estimates.
UNAUTHORIZED ABSENCE: The AJK government has reportedly regularized the unauthorized absence of a sacked contractual employee of the local government and rural development (LG&RD) department by converting it into long leave.
According to details, 864 days of leave with half-pay from 31-3-2000 to 11-08-2002 and leave without pay from 12-08-2002 to 12-08-2006 was sanctioned by the LG&RD secretariat for Mr Tariq Amin Turki, assistant engineer, LG&RD department, through a notification issued in June.
Mr Turki was appointed in the World Bank-funded rural water supply and sanitation project in April 1991 on contract basis, but before the completion of the project, he left Pakistan for Canada in 2000 and did not return despite being served several notices to join duty, sources said.
He was removed from service vide notification SLG-4522-29 on 12-07-2001 shortly before the present government entered office.
However, the termination order was cancelled from the date of issuance vide notification SLG-8668-75 on 20-11-2003.
By that time, sources say, the rural water supply project had ended, but the LG&RD secretariat 'carried forward' Mr Turki's 'service' in the newly-launched CISP project.
LG&RD Minister Raja Nisar Ahmed told Dawn that he was unaware of any such notification. "If at all it has been done, it is illegal," he said. "You can favour people if you have discretion. But you cannot favour anyone out of rules," the minister added, claiming that the department had not informed him of any such order.