News
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Nai Gaj dam project’s benefits and public grievancesBy Gulsher Panhwer
Kachho, a desert cum mountainous area, forming the western track of Dadu District bordering Balochistan is peculiar due to its geography and topography.
Despite being blessed with both surface and ground water as well other minerals, its major parts remain in the grip of natural disasters and majority of its dwellers live in abject poverty. If there are heavy rains and good flow from Nai Gaj and its subsidiaries not only Kachho becomes prosperous but the whole economy of Dadu District gets big boost.
Due to absence of alternative sources of livelihood the residents of Kachho solely depend on rain-dependent cultivation. The surface water is found in the shape of hill torrents (rain streams) and rainwater stored in ponds and ditches. The ground water is also extracted by hand pumps, tube wells, bricked wells, dug wells, etc. Keeping in view the vagary of monsoon and uncertainty of supply of water various governments planned to construct a water reservoir by harnessing the abundant quantity of water of Nai Gaj.
People of Kachho and Taluka Johi also vigorously demanded the construction of the dam. The government planned the dam with objectives of irrigated agriculture development, flood control, drinking water supply and fisheries development. Nai Gaaj starts from the spring Thakh in Khuzdar, Balochistan, and after passing Kachho it releases into Muncher.
At present 60% of the population depends on Nai Gaj as it irrigates about 40,000 acres of Kachho, and the people that live in Kachho utilise this water to cultivate plants like wheat, barley, corn, tabasco and vegetables etc. The first desk study for the dam was carried out in 1969; second in 1993, and third in 2004. After the completion of the project 28,000 acres of land is estimated to come under cultivation. And if optimal techniques like drip irrigation are applied more land can be cultivated.
But since the ground-breaking ceremony of the dam in 2005 the locals of Kachho area of Taluka Johi started a protest which continued throughout the year 2006. Recently Sindh United Party (SUP) Johi chapter launched a protest in which locals participated fully. In 2006 the protesters alleged that people of Taluka Johi, part of Kachho, have the first right on the dam but are being deprived of a large volume being diverted to KN Shah Taluka.
Recent protesters have a wide range of complaints, including use of substandard material, deprivation of jobs for locals, issue of compensation of land, water not reaching the lands which were cultivated in southern area flooded during monsoon high flow of Nai Gaj and environmental issues, particularly threat of further degradation of livelihood and ecosystem of fresh water lake Manchar. I and Mashooque Birahmani accompanied two journalist friends – Amar Lashari and Wafa Birahmani – on a fact-finding visit.
On the way we saw poorly constructed road in a poor condition due to plying of heavy vehicles which were engaged in the dam project. The large trenches in the fields have been dug in the surrounding areas to extract soil for the project. This was looking awkward and caused disturbance to flora and fauna of the area. It would have been better if the soil for filling purpose had been taken from one location, but there were haphazard and ubiquitous ditches spread in a large area. At the dam site, hundreds of the protesters were staging a sit-in at the main entrance point at the site of the dam. Majid, a local protester, said the piece of land, their only source of livelihood, has come under the dam. “Jobs are not being provided to us as all outsiders are appointed,” he said.
Roshan Buriro, central information secretary of SUP, and Ghulam Qadir Leghari, president of Johi chapter, said all mega projects of WAPDA had proved big failures and this dam project is proving worst. They said that the issue of land compensation and jobs for locals are the main issues. He said they wanted standard work, otherwise this dam would prove a “water bomb” which may wipe out the adjoining area of Kachho and Johi city, in case mighty flow of Nai washes away the poorly constructed dam.
We went ahead to observe the project work in progress where the in-charge said that more than 100 locals have been appointed and the allegation of substandard work is baseless. There we saw all outsiders who, by their complexion, seemed to be Pathans. A large number of them were in the age group of 10 to 14 and 16. This is child labour.
Ali Sher Baloch, MD of the project, while giving the official position on the allegations of the protesters, said, “An international standard laboratory at the cost of four crores has been established on the site to check the quality and standard of the material before use, and the quality of the steel brought in trucks is checked with a instrument attached with every truck. If the material is even slightly unsuitable it is rejected forthwith on the spot and replaced with quality material, therefore there is no question of utilisation of substandard material in this mega project”.
He said that “the project with the water storing capacity of 3.3 million acre feet is estimated to be completed in coming two years, as one-year work has already been completed”. Responding to the demand of the locals for jobs, Mr Baloch maintained that “the work on the project is heavy machinery-intensive, therefore we do not have capacity to absorb local unskilled labour. To fill the technical jobs we have hired the skilled labour from outside because we could not get the skilled labour locally”. He smiled on the complaint that even the watchmen were outsiders. He said that “more than 100 people have been appointed from the area, of which 67 belong to the surrounding villages”.
The writer can be reached at gulsherp@yahoo.com
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk