Generating electricity: Gomal Zam Dam inaugurated

Kidnapped workers of the project still not recovered.

DERA ISMAIL KHAN:

The Gomal Zam Dam was inaugurated in South Waziristan on Thursday by Water and Power Minister Khawaja Asif, along with the US Ambassador Richard Olson and K-P Governor Engineer Shaukatullah.

The multi-purpose dam will irrigate 200,000 acres of land in district Tank and tehsil Kulachi, in district D I Khan.

The dam will generate 17.4 megawatts of power, benefiting 25,000 households.

The project’s completion will benefit all of K-P where the present energy crisis has damaged the country’s economy, said Asif.  Meanwhile, Governor Shaukatullah said this achievement will give great impetus to expediting ongoing dam projects.

“The US will continue to work with Pakistan to meet the energy shortage,” Olson reiterated.

However, it was not a happy occasion for the relatives of the kidnapped workers of Gomal Zam Dam project who are now losing hope for their recovery. Eight men related to the project were kidnapped on August 16 last year while they were on their way from Kachori, the dam site area, to Tank.

The workers were abducted by militants when they were on their way to Tank and D I Khan to celebrate Eid.

A close relative of a kidnapped worker, on condition of anonymity, said, “The affected families had decided to protest on the eve of the dam’s inauguration.”

Wapda officials had assured the families that the workers would be recovered before the inauguration ceremony, she said.

Earlier, militants had released a video where they showed FQO worker Mushtaq’s body. They claimed that he was shot dead because the government was not meeting their demands.

Relatives of those kidnapped submitted an application in the Peshawar High Court in October 2012. Due to court holidays and other reasons, the case hearing date is now set for September 18.

“We request the CJ and the governor to help us,” she appealed.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 13^th, 2013.