HARIPUR, Aug 13: District Nazim Dr Raja Amir Zaman said on Thursday that he would oppose the construction of a gravity-flow water supply scheme on river Dour in Abbottabad at every forum.

Talking to farmers' representatives at Sikandarpur Union Council Nazim Qazi Modoodul Haq's house, he said he had opposed the water supply scheme in the past and would continue to do so even if there were directives in this regard from President Gen Pervez Musharraf.

District Public Safety Commission Chairman Chaudhry Zaheer and nazims and councillors of different union councils of Haripur also attended the meeting. The meeting was called to discuss the impacts of the scheme.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) and the federal government are funding the Rs1.5 billion project. Raja Amir said that according to the Rawaj-i-Aabpashi of 1905, Haripur had right to 200 cusecs of water from river Dour but only 30 cusecs were available for irrigation here. He said reduction in the share would leave a disastrous impact on the demography of district.

The federal government whenever it needed to utilize such a natural facility would be constitutionally bound to purchase it from the respective province or district, he said.

However, he said the people of Haripur would neither sell water from their share nor allow anyone to deprive them of their right. Referring to a report of the irrigation chief engineer, the nazim said that the project, if initiated, would create water scarcity, lead to lengthy a litigation and soar relations between neighbouring districts.

He said he had written to Japanese agency and the irrigation department last month about the project's repercussions. He said he had not issued a no-objection certificate for the project.

He said he was aware of the disastrous impacts of construction of dams as he was among the victims of the Khanpur Dam. He criticized local MNAs Omar Ayub Khan and Zaib Goher Ayub Khan for failing to raise the issue in the National Assembly pressure the government and the Japanese agency in this regard.

He asked parliamentarians to join hands with the district government in its fight against the scheme. He urged the government and Jica to scrap the project and explore alternative means of water supply to Abbottabad. The meeting adopted a resolution demanding cancellation of the scheme.