ISLAMABAD: All past and present rulers were responsible for the water crisis, which will exacerbate if arrangements are not made for making water reservoirs, said Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar on Thursday.

“Asif Zardari and Nawaz Sharif should come and tell the court what they have done to address the water issue. Why do we not put the responsibility of the water crisis on both of them? Tanker and cement mafias have engulfed water worth billions of rupees. The water crisis will worsen if we do not respect water,” he said while hearing a suo motu case on the water crisis and other matters.

Discussing the Kalabagh Dam issue, he said he would have better understood the stance of the Sindhis if he were Sindhi or even Balochi rather than Punjabi. He said consensus should be developed over the dam and that he will hear the case regarding the matter in Karachi as Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have reservations over the project.

Hearing a suo motu case, the CJP directed Aitzaz Ahsan to come up with a water policy by June 21

“The Capital Development Authority (CDA) spends its budget on purchasing vehicles instead of addressing the issue of water scarcity in the federal capital. Our lands will become barren if we do not arrange water. We have decided if we want to leave behind luxury vehicles for the coming generations or water,” the chief justice said.

He directed for hydrants to be closed for the tanker mafia and said that water belongs to the government.

He said a tanker full of water is being sold for Rs1,500 in the federal capital and asked who is running tanker services. He also called the Islamabad chief commissioner and CDA chairman to the next hearing.

The chief justice said trees were only being planted in books and asked if the government had arranged funds for storing water.

He also called the former Water and Power Development Authority chairman Shamsul Malik to discuss the issue of water after Eid.

The chief justice asked why the dams on which there are no controversies had not been constructed and said that small water reservoirs can be constructed in the northern areas.

He said over Rs4 billion were spent on providing water to Lahore but residents did not get much water.

Advocate Aitzaz Ahsan, who was in court, said that more reservoirs should be made to store water but the Kalabagh Dam should not be constructed without consensus.

The chief justice said that Mr Ahsan should make a policy on the water issue and submit it to the court by June 21.

Earlier, Additional Attorney General Nayyar Rizvi said that if there are no rains, the federal capital may not have water after 15 days.

Social worker and rights activist Tahira Abdullah said the project of a water policy could not be approved even after 16 years and that there will be severe water scarcity across the country by 2025.

She suggested putting the debate regarding Kalabagh Dam to an end and constructing 1,000 small dams instead.

Frequent fires in Margalla Hills

During the hearing of a case, the chief justice asked why there were five fires in the Margalla Hills during the last three months.

CDA representatives said that though immediate steps were taken after the fires started, the authority lacks equipment to extinguish fires. He said the fires could be natural, accidental or deliberate.

The chief justice said modern equipment should be made available to extinguish fires and sought a report by the next hearing.

Encroachments on Korang Nullah

The chief justice directed that all encroachments on the Korang Nullah be removed.

“These structures should be bulldozed and a report be submitted by June 24,” he said.

Additional Attorney General Nayyar Rizvi said a number of encroachers have filed cases with the federal ombudsman even though they admit they have encroached on the land. The court directed the illegal residents to submit a reply in 10 days.

Published in Dawn, June 8th, 2018