ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered both the federal and Sindh governments to ensure timely release of required funds as well as adhere to the timeline for construction of the much-needed Nai Gaj dam in Sindh.

A three-judge SC bench headed by Justice Gulzar Ahmed had taken up a petition filed through senior counsel Rasheed A. Razvi highlighting the snags that hit the development of the Nai Gaj dam in Dadu district. Senior counsel Faisal Siddiqui represented the residents of the area in the court.

On Jan 15, the Supreme Court had summoned Finance Minister Asad Umar to explain why no decision had been taken by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council on the construction of the dam. The court was assured that a final decision on the matter would be made positively by Jan 10. The minister had said the needful would be done and the project would be approved.

Earlier, the apex court had also ordered the federal government to make up its mind about the release of funds for the construction of the dam after it was told that the project had been shelved after spending a staggering Rs10 billion on it.

Regrets Sindh government does not want to see any development in province and always shifts responsibility to others

On Tuesday, the court ordered the federal and Sindh governments to ensure that the funds were released to the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) so that the dam could be built on time.

The court also asked the planning division of the federal government as well as the Sindh irrigation department to furnish reports on the release of the required funds.

The court regretted that precious rain water would go to waste by spilling into the sea, adding that the provincial government had conveniently forgotten the 2010 flood when its flow was towards the place where the dam had to be built.

Justice Ahmed regretted that the issue of Nai Gaj dam had been alive for three decades and the provincial government even apportioned funds for the dam in its budgetary allocations which usually lapsed.

The court also deplored that the Sindh government did not want to see any development in the province and always shifted the burden and responsibility to others on matters of public importance.

Nai Gaj is a hill torrent which emanates from Khuzdar district of Balochistan and after passing through plains of Kutch it eventually enters Manchar lake. The Nai Gaj area remains dry for eight months and gets water in four months during the monsoon season.

After Manchar lake attains its peak level and no more remains in a position to receive water in the monsoon season, water flows from Nai Gaj often devastate flood-protection bunds and inundate agricultural lands.

After inundating agricultural lands and devastating houses and standing crops, the monsoon water falls into the sea and, as such, a huge amount of water is wasted, the petition says.

Apart from serving as continuous flow of fresh water to Manchar lake, which will improve the ecology of the lake, the Nai Gaj dam will also serve as a lifeline for the people of this mountainous region in Dadu district with the potential of changing their socio-economic conditions.

The petition highlights that construction of the dam is blocking the inflow of a huge quantity of fresh water to Manchar lake. For improving the situation, Wapda has proposed 50 cusecs of continued piped water supply to the lake from the dam.

The petition seeks a directive for the government to provide early funds for completion of the project as well as consider increasing up to 100 cusecs fresh water flows from the dam to Manchar lake.

The long-term measures to address the issue of contamination of water of Manchar lake include the completion of RBOD-I, II, III and Nai Gaj dam projects, the petition argues, adding that through completion of RBOD projects, the drainage effluent of Sindh and Balochistan will be disposed of properly instead of being released into the Manchar lake, thus the ecology of the lake will also improve.

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2019