‘Construct dams to protect KP from floods’

NOWSHERA: A former caretaker chief minister Shamsul Mulk Monday asked the federal and provincial governments to construct dams in the province to protect Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from flood devastation in future.
Talking to reporters here, he said the provincial and federal governments would have to take tough decisions to save the province from flood damages and enhance water storage capacity.Shamsul Mulk, who also served as chairmen of the Water and Power Development Authority, said the government should immediately launch construction work on the Kalabagh dam and ensure timely execution of Munda and Basha Dams.
He also proposed to the provincial government to construct a dam in Chitral. He said the construction of a dam in Chitral would not only help protect the water reservoirs of the district but also save Nowshera, Charsadda and Peshawar from future floods.Shamsul Mulk advised the provincial government to persuade the federal government to provide funds for construction of Munda dam.
He said the federal government should start development work on the Kalabagh dam. He said that besides irrigating the land in Punjab and Sindh provinces, the dam would also irrigate 800,000 acres of barren land in Bannu district.
When asked about the demerits and concerns about the Kalabagh dam, he said the dam had no demerits but was made controversial to punish the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for voting in the 1947 referendum in favour of Pakistan.
He said the flood had caused widespread devastation in Nowshera in 2010 and now the district was facing the same situation again. The former Wapda chief said the people of the country were forced to pay Rs204 billion while residents of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were paying Rs30 billion annually on account of electricity tariff due to non-construction of the dam.
He said the dam would help irrigate a vast land in Dera Ismail Khan and other parts of the province.Shamsul Mulk said the rulers should demonstrate maturity and take decisions in the national interest before it gets too late.