ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, Farrukh Habib Monday said the government is working to facilitate all the provinces to sort out water issues. Addressing a news conference along with Punjab Irrigation Minister and Opposition Leader in Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh, Farrukh said dams are important for any country and the previous governments did not bother to build any dam.
He said the government aims at building dams that can store 13 million acre-feet of water in 10 years. All the provinces can benefit through the construction of dams, he said, while adding that the prime minister cares for all the farmers of the country, and the opposition should not give an impression otherwise.
Habib regretted that the PPP is doing politics on the issue of water to create differences among the provinces.
He, however, said that the opposition party cannot hoodwink the masses.
He said the federal government is ready to take along all the provinces on the water issue. He said telemetry system will soon be installed on dams and canals to ensure transparency in water distribution among the provinces.
He further said Prime Minister Imran Khan has given clear directions in this regard in order to properly monitor water flow. He further said that no attention was paid to the construction of dams in the past.
Our water storage capacity decreased from 15.74 million acres to thirteen million acres feet. Habib said we have started construction work on 10 dams, which will significantly increase the water capacity.
He said the construction of dams will also help generate clean and cheap electricity besides providing clean water to the people.
Punjab Irrigation Minister Mohsin Leghari said Punjab is facing water shortage of twenty two percent and Sindh seventeen percent.
He said we have proposed deployment of independent observers to clear misunderstandings among the provinces over the water issue. In his remarks, Opposition Leader in the Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh said both Punjab and Sindh provinces are facing water shortage due to less rains this year. He however was confident that the water situation will improve in the coming weeks.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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