KHUSHAB, March 22: Drinking water crisis in Khushab district has worsened following the Punjab government decision to “gift its share to Sindh”.
Around one million people, living in Khushab district and surrounding areas, are left with no water supply due to the canal closure.
“We have sent an SOS message to the provincial government for intervention,” said district Nazim Ehsanullah Khan Tiwana while talking to journalists visiting the area.
He said Khushab was no more an area justifying its name; subsoil water had turned brackish and its level dropped to 600-foot deep. “In these circumstances, after the closure of Muhajir branch, which irrigates the district, more than 80 per cent of the population of Khushab has started facing problem in getting water. The perennial problem has already assumed crisis proportion for at least 25 per cent of the population,” he said.
The Nazim said water for irrigation purposes could be gifted, but not at the cost of drinking supplies. Khushab district was the worst-affected area and the district administration had sent frequent messages to the governor and the authorities concerned for redressal of the problem, but, hitherto, in vain.
The Punjab Irrigation Department had recommended release of at least 1,000 cusecs water in Thal canal in order to meet drinking water needs of the area people.
Ehsan Tiwana said the district government had started water management efforts through installing new tubewells, but these arrangements were not sufficient and a time consuming effort. At present drinking water was being rationed to avoid further complication. He regretted that political parties of the area were not performing their role for highlighting the problems of the area.
THREAT: People of Khushab, Leiah, Bhakkar and Jhang districts will take to the streets if the Thal Flood Canal project is delayed under undue pressure from “certain quarters.”
Khushab District Nazim Ihsanullah Khan Tiwana told visiting journalists on Thursday that four District Nazims were now in touch to formalize their protest strategy. The project, he said, was too important for poverty alleviation of the four districts.
“The canal was conceived 35 years ago and the head regulator built in 1968 at Adhikot. The objections being raised more than three decades down the line pass one’s comprehension precisely for the time lapse. The hapless people of the area accepted this in greater national interest. But now the cost of the sacrifice has become too high to be borne anymore,” the Nazim said.
After ground breaking by the president on Aug 16, Wapda has already dug three out of 23 miles of the canal.
Malik Ghulam Muhammad Tiwana, former parliamentarian, termed the delay a conspiracy to perpetuate poverty of the area. “Look at the social benefits; the canal will irrigate 1.5 million acres in the most impoverished districts of the Punjab. Its 271 miles long distributaries and over 1,200 miles long arteries can lift the area out of poverty,” he said.
Farmers of the area were equally bitter and threatening about the new hiccups, procedural delays and possibility of shelving the project. Most of the farmers were given replacement lands in exchange of their lands subsumed by the Mangla and Tarbela dams and other national projects. Now, they are being deprived yet again.