Senate panel forms body to oversee Tarbela dam affectees

Standing Committee on Water Resources seeks report within two months

ISLAMABAD:

The Senate Standing Committee on Water Resources has formed a subcommittee to review the cases regarding any pending payment to the people affected by the construction of Tarbela dam.

The committee meeting, chaired by Senator Shamim Afridi, took up the issue raised by Senator Samina Saeed in the upper house of parliament on July 30, regarding payment of compensation to the people displaced from the site of the Tarbela dam.

The meeting was attended by senators Waleed Iqbal, Sana Jamali, Sabir Shah, Yusuf Badini, Rana Maqbool, Samina Saeed and Gyan Chand besides water resources ministry joint secretary, the Indus River System Authority (Irsa) chairman and Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) officials.

The subcommittee would be headed by Senator Sabir Shah and include Senator Agha Shahzeb Durrani and Senator Rana Maqbool Ahmed as its members. Senator Samina Saeed will also participate in the subcommittee meetings.

The committee was informed that 82,109 acres of land for Tarbela dam was acquired in Haripur, Mansehra and Swabi districts and the then tribal areas of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa as well as in the Attock district of Punjab.

The committee was further informed that five towns were constructed for the affected people in which 13,459 residential and commercial plots were allotted. Besides, agricultural lands were also given to them in Punjab and Sindh.

Officials said that according to the Wapda records, payments had been made to all those affected by the construction of the dam, adding that there was no case pending with Wapda.

However, Senator Samina said that only 30% of the affected people had been compensated. On that, the committee formed a subcommittee to review the cases of any pending payment and prepare a report in two months.

The senators then took up Senator Gyan Chand's motion in the Senate session on August 24, 2020, regarding installation of the telemetry system for water distribution among the provinces.

Senator Chand told the committee that the telemetry system was introduced in 2004 but it did not prove effective, adding that the provinces faced problems regarding water distribution.

The Irsa chairman informed the committee that the first telemetry system had malfunctioned. Later, two firms showed interest in installing another system, while the World Bank (WB) promised provision of assistance.

However, he added, when the relevant ministry objected to one of the firms, the WB recommended hiring new experts. Later, when the ministry reissued the tender for the project, the WB backed out.

The committee was informed that the telemetry system would be installed in two to three years. Senator Waleed Iqbal said that it was better to install telemetry system as soon as possible so that the provinces could get their due share of water.

Rana Maqbool raised the issue of very little water flow in the Chenab River despite the fact that India could not stop the flow in Chenab. The Irsa chairman said that details in this regard would be provided in the next meeting.

The committee was also informed about the feasibility study being conducted for hydroelectric power generation from Tanda dam. The committee was told that the feasibility study would be completed by December.