KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah strongly opposed the construction of Kalabagh and Akhori dams in the Council of Common Interests (CCI) meeting on Friday, and pressed Centre to develop census on them.
The 29th meeting of CCI was held under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif at the PM’s Office and also discussed the issue of Census 2016 in detail. Secretary Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) informed the meeting that in continuation of the decision taken in previous CCI meeting held on February 29, a series of meetings were held with the provincial governments and armed forces. It was informed that since transparency in census operation was vital for future planning, about 300,000 troops are required to ensure man-to-man coverage and to lend credibility and security to the operation.
The meeting was informed that due to the engagement of armed forces in operations in Shawal and Zarb-e-Azb, the required number of troops cannot be spared at this stage. The option of having phased census was also discussed during the meeting. However, the meeting was briefed by PBS that phased census was not desirable due to inherent flaws and in any case phased census was not in line with international best practices, particularly keeping in view some specific factors related to Pakistan which can raise serious contentions on the credibility of the exercise.
It was, therefore, unanimously decided that census will be postponed and a new date finalised in due course in consultation with the provincial governments and armed forces. Meanwhile, a statement issued by Sindh Chief Minister’s House said the Ministry of Water and Power presented a 10-year National Flood Protection Plan and also pleaded to construct Kalabagh and Akhori dams to preserve floodwater. It said that taking a principled stand the chief minister said that Kalabagh Dam has already been rejected by Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments and assemblies. “This flood plan seems to have been worked out by the bureaucracy, otherwise minister for water and power, being a political person, would not have approved it for the CCI meeting,” the statement quoted the CM as saying and added that 1991 Water Accord has no provision to construct new reservoirs.
The Ministry of Water and Power argued that construction of new dams is the only way to conserve floodwater. The CCI meeting also discussed the issue of National Flood Protection Plan. All the stakeholders unanimously decided to constitute a committee comprising of the four chief ministers, federal minister for water and power and federal minister for climate change to finalise the plan.
