Kalabagh Dam will guarantee cheap electricity, says Elahi

LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League leader Ch Pervaiz Elahi has said Kalabagh Dam was a guarantee of provision of water, cheap electricity and prosperity for all the four provinces.
According to a press release issued here Sunday, the former CM Punjab said this while addressing a seminar on Kalabagh Dam held under the auspices of the Pakistan Muslim League and talking to the media in Islamabad.
MPA Moonis Elahi was chief organizer of the seminar. Former Wapda chairman Shamsul Mulk, prominent economic expert and former finance minister Dr Salman Shah, Senator Mandokhel from Balochistan and other leaders said not constructing Kalabagh Dam was a conspiracy against the federation, rulers of the Punjab were also not sincere about its construction, Mian brothers bartered on it for their “kursis” whereas construction of Kalabagh Dam would eliminate darkness from all the four provinces.
The seminar was also addressed by Nisar Safdar, Zafar Bakhtarwi, Khaliq Mahmundullah, Abdul Rahim Baloch, Col Abdul Razzaq Bugti, Rizwan Mumtaz Ali and Suleman Khan. The first session was presided over by Shamusul Mulk while second session was chaired by Ch Pervaiz Elahi.
Pervaiz said areas like Thar would have to be made green for elimination of poverty. He said we had pushed the IMF out but they had brought it again, Kalabagh Dam was not a dam of just one province but of the entire Pakistan, he said and added Sindh would benefit the most from the dam and then Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Punjab would also benefit from it. Responding to a question while talking to the media, Pervaiz said an all parties conference could also be convened shortly for construction of Kalabagh Dam.
In reply to another question, he condemned N-League firing on PTI rally and said it was regretful that this firing incident proved incompetency of the Punjab government. Pervaiz said like many other promises of the present govt, promise to end loadshedding of electricity in six months had also proved false, and even no sincere effort was made in this regard either, while electricity cost was constantly being made costly. He said electricity rates are higher even than India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka which was Rs 3 to Rs 5 per unit during tenure of 2002 to 2007 and it was from Rs 18 to Rs 20 per unit apart from fuel adjustment charges and surcharge.
He said floods had caused 30 billion dollars to the national economy in four years whereas present estimated cost of Kalabagh Dam was 9 billion dollars. If the dam had been constructed the national economy would not have suffered so much and also 3500 human lives also could have been saved.
He said there was need for removing the misunderstandings spread in other provinces particularly in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh regarding Kalabagh Dam and this seminar organized by the PML was part of such efforts.
Engineer Shamsul Mulk said not constructing the Kalabagh Dam was conspiracy against the federation, even the rulers of the Punjab were also not sincere about construction of this dam. Late president Ayub Khan had planned for Indus study for making Pakistan Asian tiger under which electricity cost could have come down quite appreciably whereas the World Bank had also said in 1973 that prosperity of Pakistan would depend on Kalabagh Dam. He said for getting water for agriculture, the Kalabah Dam site was the best which would irrigate entire Sindh and thirst of Thar could also be quenched by Kalabagh Dam.
He said Wapda had decided in 1992 that Kalabagh Dam should be constructed by 1995, Bhasha Dam by 2010. If this had been done, electricity costing Rs 18 per unit today would have been available at the rate of Rs 1.54.
Shams said Pakistan had been cheated not by enemies but its own rulers who themselves do not pay the price of electricity. He said World Bank was no more World Bank but had become the Indian company, present rulers say Kalabagh Dam should not be constructed, we should be told that whether the govt in 1967 was telling lie or this govt was telling lie. He said Tarbela Dam could be used for meeting power requirements and Kalabagh Dam for irrigation needs.
PML Senator Saeedul Hassan Mendokhel from Balochistan said there was no problem for Balochistan if Kalabagh Dam was constructed. According to a recent report of the World Bank in 10 years people from Quetta would start migrating because Balochistan would be facing water shortage.
Dr Salman Shah said economy of Pakistan could not flourish without water which was basic ingredient for elimination of hunger and poverty, 25 million acres land of Pakistan was lying barren because of Kalabagh Dam not being constructed.
PML’s Senator Kamil Ali Agha, Ch Zaheeruddin Khan, Basharat Raja, Senator Mohsin Leghari, Imran Masood, Imtiaz Ranjha, Dr Amjad, Dr Azeemuddin Lakhvi, Raja Nasir, Waqas Mokal, Zain Elahi, Rana Zahid Tauseef, women leaders Farrukh Khan, Sameena Khawar Hayat, Amna Ulfat, Khadeeja Farooqi, Tamkeen Aftab also addressed the seminar.