Death knell of KBD
Blog, Local Tuesday, August 31st, 2010A Karachi friend, who had always opposed Kalabagh dam, said to me two years ago, “With the climate change, we need not one, but six Kalabagh dams”.
We are forgetting the first principle of dam building. Dams are built primarily for irrigation and power generation. Flood control is an added bonus. A number of experts have been flushed up by the floods.
The floods in Nowshera are because of the confluence of the floods in Kabul and Swat rivers, the bottle neck being the 10 mile long narrow Attock gorge which causes a back up effect on the Kabul river. The Indus does not contribute to these floods as it gets diverted to Ghazi Barotha well upstream of the mouth of Kabul river.
Kalabagh dam also could not have averted floods in Nowshera. A dam cannot effect flood control for or against, upstream of it. Downstream yes.
I have warned them they should be prepared for a massive ‘No’ vote. They are tackling the problem from the wrong end. First you have to convince the people of Sindh, and the like minded in Punjab, that Kalabagh dam will not reduce flow in the Indus but increase it, that Punjab cannot steal Sindh’s water because IRSA will not let it, not that Punjab has ever done it, Punjab takes only what is due to it from Tarbela.
First you have to convince the people of KPK that Nowshera and other low lying areas of KPK are in no danger from Kalabagh dam. Tell them it is only Kalabagh dam which can facilitate KPK in utilizing its share of water from Tarbela, Bhasha or Skardu dams. No Kalabgah dam, no share ever for KPK from any future dam in Pakistan till eternity, a pretty alarming situation, but they know it not.
The only satisfaction KPK can have is that if it cannot get any water form the Indus for all times to come, neither can north Punjab without Kalabagh dam. Punjab knows it but is helpless being the victim of ‘Big brother’ syndrome. The press having failed miserably in education public opinion in favour of dams and Kalabagh dam in particular is now embarking on a referendum which will be the death knell of Kalabagh dam.
Short URL: http://www.daily.pk/?p=21127
on Aug 31 2010. Filed under
Instead of having a referendum, the government should hold a seminar of the experts on dams, national and international. There should be a debate without any involvement of politicians and these experts should develop a consensus for building / not building the dams , especially KBD. Whatever the consensus, it should be supported by findings and facts.
The politicians who are giving statements are very fond of firing from their hips without thinking the consequences and they have their own agendas or that of their foreign masters.