Meeting on water issues: NA panel irked over absence of Vawda, scy

ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Standing Committee on Water Resources, which met Wednesday with Nawab Yousuf Talpur in the chair expressed serious concern over the non-availability of the minister and secretary Ministry of Water and Resources.

Faisal Vawda and Secretary, Muhammad Ashraf had accompanied Prime Minister Imran Khan to Chilas for the inauguration ceremony of Diamer Bhasha hydropower project.

PTI Member National Assembly, Ali Nawaz Awan protested at the absence of minister and secretary.

The committee was of the view that both minister and secretary must attend the meting and if the minister was not available the secretary must attend the meeting.

The committee showed its displeasure on non-compliance of the previous recommendations/directions of the committee. The minutes of previous meeting could not be approved by the committee and was deferred till its next meeting.

While briefing on installation of telemetry system, the representative of Indus River System Authority (Irsa) briefed the committee regarding Water Apportionment Accord, 1991, power and duties of the Authority and background of the telemetry system. The committee was also briefed regarding approval pre-execution activities, post-execution issues and faulty operation.

The representative from Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) while briefing on Sindh Barrage Project apprised the committee that the proposed barrage site is located about 180 km downstream Kotri barrage and 45 km upstream Indus river outfall into Arabian sea. He further highlighted the objectives of the project, approval status, progress/ feasibility study and its alternatives. The committee was also briefed regarding financial status of Sindh barrage and requirement for 2020-21.

The meeting was attended by MNAs, Fazal Muhammad Khan, Ali Nawaz Awan, Sheikh Shafique, Ch Shaukat Ali Bhatti, Dr. Afzal Khan Dhandla, Ch Javed Iqbal Warraich, Ms Nuzhat Pathan, Khawaja Asif and Maryum Aurangzeb.