ISLAMABAD, Feb 26: Dozens of people affected by Taunsa Barrage remodelling project in Southern Punjab on Monday went on indefinite hunger strike after the World Bank’s country chief refused to form an independent commission to determine the losses the project has inflicted on hundreds of families.

When John Wall, the bank’s country representatives, refused to form the commission they set up their hunger strike camp in front of the bank’s building.

The World Bank-funded Taunsa Barrage Emergency Rehabilitation and Modernization Project (TBERMP) not only cost a number of families livelihood, shelter but also closed canals besides causing river erosion. A number of people were in the process displaced in the name of resettlement.

The affected people under the Sindh Bachao Tarla and ActionAid presented a memorandum of demands to Mr Wall outside the WB headquarters, which was rejected by him.

Dozens of women, men and children from the affected communities including in-land fisherfolk, indigenous people, and civil society accused the WB of backtracking on its commitment to give due compensation and a proper living to communities forcibly displaced.

They also accused the Punjab Irrigation Department of demanding bribe from them for providing jobs and land for resettlement to the affected families.

“Displacement became painful as the alternative places have no livelihood opportunities, basic civic amenities including clean drinking water, latrines and privacy for women,” said Aamna Bibi, 46, while registering her complaint.

She said they have been left with no option but to go on indefinite hunger strike because hunger for them was not a new phenomenon after the project robbed them almost of everything they possessed.

The project has displaced 200 families whose resettlement and livelihood is a big issue. Due to the project, canal closure right at the time of Rabbi crop (peak wheat growing season), project induced water logging, river erosion and loss of livelihood are directly and indirectly impacting millions of people who have lost their lands and could not grow crops, they told the WB.

“The World Bank, unfortunately, has no realization that the project has generated numerous issues of displacement and resettlement,” said Azhar Lashari, ActionAid’s Water Rights coordinator.

Sindhu Bachao Tarla (Save Indus Struggles) is a broader people’s alliance, comprising in-land fisher folk, indigenous people, small farmers and engaged academia and social and environmental activists.

The protesters were of the view that the remodelling of Taunsa Barrage was unjustified, since many official studies undertaken in the past have concluded that the barrage was safe and didn’t pose any formidable risk of collapse.

They said the World Bank’s own technical studies admit that one could not say exactly when and how the Taunsa Barrage might collapse. “As there is no working system in place to monitor the subsurface river flows, the claims about the potential collapse of Taunsa Barrage in near future are merely wild guesses,” the protesters stated in a press release.

Moreover, this is highly doubtful that the structural remodelling, particularly the construction of four thousand feet long secondary weir in downstream, will solve the problems which are mainly result of ecologically flawed river control and engineering technologies, it added.

Since its inception, the project caused unbearable sufferings to local communities and involved massive losses and damages to their livelihoods. The canals irrigating millions of acres in Dera Ghazi Khan and Muzaffargarh districts are closed every year in the winter seasons which not only result in large income and livelihood losses but also create acute drinking water crisis.

The indigenous groups were involuntarily displaced and they are now compelled to continue living in improper and unhealthy resettlement sites.

The affected people said a large number of farmers are facing the risk of permanent loss of their housing and agricultural lands owing to chronic water logging exacerbated by excessive and prolonged water releases to Muzaffargarh and Taunsa-Panjnad Link Canal.

Further, thousands acres of land in the left bank of the Indus River have been permanently lost due to temporary flow diversions for construction work. However, there is as yet no proper recognition and documentation of these losses and damages, they observed.

“The manners of project planning and implementation are highly secretive and lack transparency and information sharing. The latest example in this regard is the continuous effort from both the World Bank and Punjab Irrigation Department to hide the results of official enquiry report on the recent breach of dam at Taunsa Barrage. The breach occurred in very mysterious circumstances and involves the waste of billions of rupees to be finally paid by poor tax payers,” states the press release.