Though silted and wrecked, the resurfacing of a bank’s building in Gulmit, following the recent widening of the Attabad Lake spillway, has rekindled people’s hopes that their submerged lands will finally be recovered.
Engineers of the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) dynamited the accidental lake’s spillway on February 28, bringing down the water level by approximately 15 to 25 feet.
The engineers estimate that the lake, which has swelled over 23 kilometres (km) upstream ever since it was formed in 2010, will be completely drained out once the exercise is repeated next month.
“We had lost all hope for recovering our homes and lands,” said Abbas Ali, a resident of Gojal, whose house and orchards are still submerged in the lake.
A hotel along the Karakoram Highway has also resurfaced after the widening of the spillway.
According to officials, when the spillway was dynamited, a wave of more than 50,000 cusecs water gushed out initially, but it slowed down in the succeeding hours as the water failed to force away some heavy boulders underneath, blocking the spillway.
If the lake is drained, the travel woes of over 25,000 residents of Gojal will be resolved, who were forced to travel on private boats to cross the 23km-lake to reach Gilgit. But that was no longer an option in winters when the lake had frozen and the government had banned the risky journey.
Residents have expressed the hope that the FWO engineers will not let them down and will succeed in recovering their lost lands in Gojal valley, upper Hunza.
The Attabad Lake was formed after a massive landslide blocked the Hunza River in January 2010. As the lake expanded, it submerged at least four villages upstream, displacing the local population.
The lake also submerged parts of the Karakoram Highway and a major bridge in Gojal, severing the area from the rest of the country.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 16th, 2012.
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The so called FWO is doing nothing just wasting resources and time. this engineering wing of Pakistan Army is the most corrupt unit within the establishment. they are playing for money. for the last 3 years it even could not re-open the spillway for at least 30 feet from the ground. the entire lake has engulfed many villages due to their negligence. the chinees company CBRC currently working to expand the KKH offered their services to reopen the spillway within 3-months but the corrupt establishment did not allow them to do it. the simple reasen is this spillway has become a good source for making money for the corrupt establishment.
@George haeh- thanks for your kind of information, the photo shown above is not attabad lake, ET admin have placed wrong photo, the real photo can be found in www.pamirtimes.net. ET is poor one, they have deleted my 3 last comment.who know, this one can be also deleted, they are hiding their wrongness and shamelessness. Poor U ET!
@Admin- The picture shown above is not attabad lake. Please remove it and get the real photo of attabad lake from pamirtimes.net.
Thank you Shabbir bhai for constantly and objectively highlighting issues related to the masses of Gilgit - Baltistan. You are doing a great service for the region.