Closure of Rawal Dam for public: NA panel annoyed at Irrigation Department Punjab

ISLAMABAD: A National Assembly Panel on Friday expressed considerable annoyance at the Irrigation Department Punjab for not opening Rawal Dam for general public despite the fact that incidents of terrorism are almost zero in the country.

Islamabad's Rawal Dam, which belongs to the Punjab government and is one of the picnic points for the public has been closed to the public for years due to the possibility of a terrorist attack. The panel headed by Ali Nawaz Awan, MNA from Islamabad, who also looks after the affairs of Capital Development Authority (CDA) was probing the reasons for the prolonged closure of Rawal Dam. However, the officials of Irrigation Department Punjab were not giving any clear answer on the queries being asked by the panel.

On Friday the panel looked into the affairs of Rawal Dam, especially use of its land and water, with respect to environment, health and tourism. The panel was to submit its report to the National Assembly Standing Committee on Water Resources, headed by Nawab Yousuf Talpur and comprised of Ali Nawaz Awan, Farooq Azam Malik, Naureen Farooq Ibrahim and Hamid Hameed on September 4, 2020.

The panel conveyed its anger against Secretary Irrigation Punjab and Project Director Rawal Dam for their absence from the meeting. "If CPPO Lahore attends Standing Committee meeting then why Secretary Irrigation is not coming to answer our questions," said Awan.

National Assembly Standing Committee on Water Resources, in its meeting held on September 4, 2020 had already conveyed its dismay on the continuous absence of Secretary Irrigation Punjab from the meeting.

Ali Nawaz Awan convener of the panel informed the meeting that Lakeview Park was closed for the last seven years. However, with terrorism acts under control and new tourism policy in the country announced by the incumbent government, tourists are visiting different spots. He queried the reasons for the continued closure of Rawal Dam when all the concerned organizations/ departments are ready to open it to the public. "Islamabad's citizens are being deprived of their basic rights due to closure of Rawal Dam," he added.

The officials of Interior Ministry informed the panel that intelligence agencies have played that the Dam be opened to the public. The police officials assured the meeting that they are ready to give security at the dam site. Deputy Commissioner Islamabad informed the committee that there was no direct threat to the dam.

According to the dam's administration, the dam had completed its life in 2012. For Rawalpindi, only one dam is available to supply water. Rawal Dam was constructed in 1960 on Korang River to meet the water supply requirement of the city and catchments area. Present water storage capacity is 37000 to 47500 acre-feet. Rawal Dam's filtration plant capacity is 28 MGD, but it is operating at 23 MGD of which 10 MGD is supplied to WASA, 12.5 MGD to MES, and 0.5 MGD to ISI, NARC and NIH.

The main sources of pollution are disposal of raw sewage from CDA and ICT areas i.e. QAU, Bari Imam, diplomatic enclave, Bara Kaho and Bani Gala, unplanned urbanization and human settlements in the catchments area and leisure activities in and around the lake and excessive boating, agriculture activities and deforestation.

PC-1 for construction of 3 sewage treatment plants in Islamabad area (Rawal Lake catchments area) were approved by the CDWP on November 18, 2019 at a cost of Rs 3.972 billion. MCI is the executing agency. Rawal Lake filtration plant and its equipment/ machineries have completed their design life of 15 years and need to be replaced. Last rehabilitation of machinery was done in 2001.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020