Kalabagh dam: Govt directed to present objections

KBD project was launched during former PM late ZA Bhutto’s government but was stopped due to reservations

LAHORE:

Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice (CJ) Justice Umar Ata Bandial directed the federal government to present by August 27 the objections raised by political parties against the construction of the Kalabagh Dam (KBD).

The court was hearing a petition asking the court to direct the federation to convene a meeting of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) to build a consensus to construct the KBD. During the hearing on Tuesday, a deputy attorney general said the KBD project was launched during former prime minister late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s government but was stopped due to reservations expressed by the provinces of Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). He sought time to file a detailed reply on behalf of the federal government.

A reply has already been submitted on behalf of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) saying it had no objection to the construction of KBD and that it had sent its recommendations to the federal government. Lawyer Feroze Shah Gilani, the petitioner, had argued that a former caretaker KP chief minister and former WAPDA chairman Shamsul Mulk had, on October 9, 2010, said that KBD was not only in Punjab’s interest but the entire countrys. He argued that KP had suffered most due to the delay in constructing the KBD.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 18^th, 2012.