KARACHI/NAGARPARKAR: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that the people of Thar were with Pakistan Peoples Party right from the period of Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto but their votes used to be stolen through engineered election and now the entire Thar has stood up with the PPP by rejecting `seasonal politician.’
This he said while addressing an inauguration ceremony of Kalidas Small Dam here at Nagarparkar on Wednesday. The ceremony was attended by MPAs of the area, provincial ministers and concerned officers. The chief minister said that in 2008 though the people of Thar gave intensive votes to PPP but the party was not given even a single seat. “I don’t want to take his name but a so-called leader of Thar was an expert in manipulating the elections,” he said and added finally the people of Thar with the power of their votes and commitment with the party rejected other parties, alliances and individuals and elected PPP to power.
Shah said that the PPP has delivered in Thar and has served its people with heart and soul. “look at the roads, bridges, small dams, coal and power projects, employment opportunities and RO plants; we have given almost every facility to the people of Thar,” he said and added as far as employment opportunities were concerned each and every house of Tharparkar district has on average one job at RO plants, coal mining, coal power, and related projects.
The chief minister said that his government was also establishing well reputed educational institutions such as NED and Liaqat Universities campuses in the first phase and full-fledged universities in the second phase.
Criticizing the federal government, Shah said that they have snatched bread and butter from poor people by increasing the prices of essential commodities such as wheat/atta, sugar, ghee/cooking oil, vegetables and other items. “The sugar which was at Rs55 per kilo has reached to Rs110 per kg,” he said and added how poor people would be able to meet their both ends.
Talking about the small dam projects, Shah said: “the Karoonjhar Hills in Nagarparkar spread over 400 square kilometres and on average it receives 13 inch rainfalls, which generates 0.095 Million Acre feet of water.” He added that the water generated from this potential area needed to be stored. “Before construction of dams all water used to go waste to the Rann of Katch,” he said.
The Chief Minister said that the Small Dams Project in Nagarparkar area was launched with the construction of 42 small Dams, of which 23 dams have been completed, while the construction of the remaining 11 Dams was in progress and would be completed in July, 2022.
Murad Shah said that before Construction of the Small Dams Project, there was acute shortage of water, therefore people used to migrate from Nagarparkar to the Barrage areas. The CM said that the drought period in Nagarparkar used to be dangerous in which people were losing their cattle, the main source of their livelihood. “Now, after completion of 23 small dams, the large quantity of rain water is being stored for the people, their animals, agriculture and for the wild life for the whole year,” he said.
Murad Ali Shah said that the completion of 23 dams has started providing sufficient benefits to the people of the area. “The residents of over 45 to 50 villages are not only drinking water from the dams but extinguishing thirsts of their animals and irrigating their around 45,000 barren lands,” he said and added “after completion of the whole Project about 85,000 acres of the agriculture Land would be cultivated and 87 villages would have the facility to use dam water.”
Murad Ali Shah said that Kalidas Dam has been constructed on Ghordharo Nai, located at a distance of one Kilometre in the west of Nagarparkar Town for Rs333 million. “This dam has proved to be very beneficial for the people of the town, and the people living in the adjoining areas. “this dam is a storage facility and three months have passed to the last rainfall but still 13 feet of water is available at crest against 15 feet maximum depth,” he said and added the water would remain available in the dam for the whole year up to next monsoon season.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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