Kalabagh Dam: Court rejects govt reply, seeks detailed report

Petitioner says Council of Common Interests must consider dam.

LAHORE:

Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial of the Lahore High Court has rejected a reply filed by the federal government and sought a detailed and comprehensive report on the potential advantages and obstacles to building the Kalabagh Dam.

At the onset of proceedings on Thursday, a deputy attorney general handed the judge the government’s reply to a petition for the construction of the dam. The chief justice observed that the government had not addressed any of the queries in the petition and sought a detailed response.

The deputy attorney general requested the court to dismiss the petition, because the petitioner did not have locus standi to file the case. The chief justice responded that it was an important national project and the court had the power to intervene. He said the dam had never been discussed in the Council of Common Interests. He said that the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) had given huge importance to the project.

The petitioner’s counsel said that Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmad Bilour had stated that if the dam were built, five districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would be flooded, whereas Wapda had claimed that these districts would benefit from the construction of the dam.

The court adjourned the case till September 13.

At the previous hearing, Wapda had submitted a report rejecting the objections and apprehensions of Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan about the dam, saying they were baseless and a result of ignorance.

Advocate Syed Feroze Shah Gilani filed the petition stating that the dam was important for the country’s survival due to fast depleting water resources. He said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had suffered most due to the delay in construction of the dam. Even after the completion of Basha Dam, the province would not have the water resources to irrigate 800,000 acres of agricultural land in Dera Ismail Khan, which would be 50 feet above the dam.

He said Kalabagh Dam would allow farmers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to irrigate their lands at a reasonable price. He said the purpose of the Council of Common Interests was to iron out differences between the provinces and the provinces and the federation. Therefore, the court should issue directions to the government that the CCI meet to discuss the project.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 31^st, 2012.