Knee-deep : K-P govt gets serious over its water rights

MPAs agree that issue must be raised on all platforms .

PESHAWAR:

Although the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly session’s timely start was an anomaly, the animated and sometimes heated proceedings over key legislative bills were nothing new.

The house agreed to thoroughly discuss K-P’s unutilised water share which gets used by Punjab and Sindh. It also tabled and passed amendments to laws including the Local Government Act 2013.

Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli of the Qaumi Watan Party, who chairs the panel of chairmen, presided over the session as Speaker Asad Qaiser was on leave, while the deputy speaker’s office has been vacant since the last parliamentary year.

Besides the animated speeches, the positive to the day was the proceedings kicked off without a minute’s delay. Anisa ran the session with a firm hand and issued a ruling against government department officials and ministers who did not turn up. “The speaker is a very tolerant person, but I am not of that nature,” she said. “Action will be taken against officials who did not show up or failed to inform the assembly secretariat about their presence.”

Walkout

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s Sardar Aurangzeb Nalotha and Arbab Akbar Hayat staged a walkout over the absence of government ministers to answer questions.



Nalotha maintained their presence in the house was pointless if the ministers who have to answer questions don’t bother to come. The PML-N MPAs were later persuaded to return by opposition and treasury members.

Water woes

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl’s Zareen Gul tabled an adjournment motion over the water issue and briefed the house about the history of distribution between the provinces. He asked the government about the K-P Irrigation Department’s failure to build infrastructure to utilise K-P’s share of the water.

“The province’s future is dependent on water and we have to take up this issue on every platform; whether it is the Council of Common Interest or any other forum,” he asserted. JUI-F assured the government of its complete support when taking up the issue with Punjab.

Gul said Punjab and Sindh owed Rs119 billion to K-P for using 34% of its unutilised water share since 1991 when the water apportionment accord was formed in Karachi. Replying to Gul, the Minister for Local Government Innayatullah Khan said that they would obtain Punjab’s version on the matter and present the details to the house.

The house then agreed to hold a thorough dialogue over the issue.

The house also passed an amendment, tabled by PPP’s Nighat Orakzai, in the K-P Local Government Act 2013. It reads, “The government may by notification exempt any area or areas from all or any of the provisions of this Act.” It aimed to protect certain schools and hospitals built in residential areas. The amendment was adopted after a discussion between the opposition and the local government minister.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 14^th, 2015.