Dam donations

The chief justice of Pakista, Saqib Nisar, announced that the construction of Diamer Basha Dam is inevitable. In this regard, he asked the poor public for donations to meet the colossal expenditures of the dams. However, the question is: why are the poor people asked for donations? Undoubtedly, the Pakistani people will contribute as they have always been ready to participate in such initiatives – sometimes in the form of Pervez Musharraf’s President Relief Fund or for Nawaz Sharif’s ‘Qarz Utaro, Mulk Sawaro’ charity campaigns. The question is: why are the authorities not forcing those who have plundered the national exchequer mercilessly and misused the taxpayers’ money to contribute money? As a result, the government imposes heavy taxes on the poor, which causes extra financial burden.

Let it be said unequivocally that dams are not constructed through donations. How much amount will be amassed from public? Let us suppose that the government is able to generate Rs10 billion to Rs20 billion through crowdfunding, even then the construction of dams cannot take place. The approximate construction cost of the dam is Rs650 billion. Even if the public contributes Rs2 million on a regular basis, it will take almost 99 years to meet the total amount. The incumbent government should ponder over this and make some efforts to bring the looted money back from mischief-mongers and utilise it for the progress and development of Pakistan.

Asif Ali Jhatial

Hyderabad