Seven small dams built in KP, meeting told

PESHAWAR: Seven small dams have been constructed in various districts of KP at a cost of Rs 2.684 billion, a meeting was told on Sunday.

The completed projects have a total live storage capacity of 21694-acre feet whereas cultivable command area of the projects is 11710 acres cumulatively. This was told in a meeting of the Irrigation Department chaired by Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, said an official handout.

The meeting was convened to review the progress on the construction of small dams being executed through the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) project. Additional Chief Secretary Shakeel Qadar Khan, secretary for Irrigation Department and other relevant officials attended the meeting.

It was informed construction of seven small dams - Loughar Dam Karak, Khair Bara Dam Haripur, Karak Dam Karak, Jabba Khattak Dam Nowshera, Darmalak Dam Kohat, Ghole Banda Dam Karak and Mardan Khel Dam Karak - have been completed. The construction of Zamir Gul Dam, Kohat and Bada Dam, Swabi was in progress and would be completed at the estimated revised cost of Rs1.128.22 billion and Rs 1.921.408 billion respectively.

The chief minister underlined the need for speedy completion of ongoing small dam projects and directed the officials concerned to prepare revised PC-I for the construction of leftover PSDP projects of small dams.

Forced conversion of minor girl protested

The members of the Christian community on Sunday staged a protest against the alleged forced conversion of a 13-year-old girl in Karachi.

The protest was held under the banner of All Saint Church Peshawar and All Pakistan Minority Alliance. Demanding justice for the girl Arzoo, the protesters said she was kidnapped and forcibly married off against her will. They said it was a violation of the relevant laws and the constitution.

They alleged that members from Hindu and Christian communities were facing forced conversion. The protesters asked Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah to take notice of the incident and provide justice to the parents of the girl.

They maintained that the members of the minority communities felt insecure in the prevailing circumstance, asking the government to provide them protection.