Sunday, September 19, 2010

Kala Bagh Dam:Why we must build it

Courtesy:Weed Media

According to the Indus Basin Treaty signed in 1960 between India and Pakistan, we had to surrender the three eastern rivers of Sutlej, Bias and Ravi, and were allowed to build reservoirs and dams on the Western rivers of Indus, Jhelum and Chenab. Pakistan was forced to accept an unjust principle of replacing perennial stream water, with man made reservoir water, which had inherent complications.

Today we are facing acute water shortage, and are facing El Nino effect as well, due to climatic changes resulting from the elimination of certain biological organisms. Our population growth rate is around 2%, which is one of the highest in the region. It is estimated that by 2025, Pakistan would become the fourth most populous country in the world. Imagine how hard it would become to feed such a big population with the shortage of resources, when we are already facing problems in providing basic necessities to the existing ones.

Indian Role
Since independence India has been creating problems for Pakistan in terms of the natural resources. For instance the Indus Basin Treaty and now a barrage on river Chenab, through which India would be able to stop or regulate water flow to Pakistan whenever it desires against the provisions of the treaty. On river Jhelum we have already built Mangla dam, which provides electricity and irrigation water for the entire country, through a network of barrages and link canals etc. Leaving these two rivers, the only other dependable source which seems to be outside the grip of India is the river Indus, over which we have built Tarbela dam, which stores only 15% of its water obtained mainly through snow melts in the Himalaya.

Silting of Dams
However the problem is that the lake of Tarbela is silting heavily and this silt load is estimated at 554000 tons per day. This amount of silt cannot be taken out from any reservoir; even if it is supposedly taken out, the problem would be where and how to store it. A silt delta has been formed in the reservoir having width between 31-65 Kms and 68 meters deep, located at 14 kms from the main embankment due to the sedimentation process. WAPDA has been able to contain movement of this silt delta so far, which otherwise could have moved in and choked all power generating turbines due to the seismic activity in the area. The danger is still there and in this regard Tarbela will not be able to serve as a multi-purpose reservoir and will only be suitable for irrigation purposes.

Controversy Surrounding Kalabagh Dam
It is stated that by the time Bhasha dam is completed, in 2016, the usefulness of Tarbela would almost have gone. The only economic option left at our disposal is Kalabagh dam, which is already late and has become controversial mainly due to socio-political misunderstandings, selfish assumptions, misgivings and apprehensions amongst the people of various provinces in the country.

Ironically, all the governments starting from late Z.A Bhutto, in order to lengthen their stay in power, have always avoided this technically feasible and economically sound option, which was declared to be a better site than Tarbela in the 1960s. Tarbela was brought on line first due to political considerations and preferences. It is, therefore, natural to think that national interests have been compromised. Jeopardized and manipulated for the sake of handful people with personal interest.

By year 2050, about 2/3 of the world population could be plagued by water scarcity. It is interesting that while water scarcity is strictly becoming severe, yet in most water-scarce regions large quantities of water flow into the sea remain unutilized.

Technical and Socio-Political Issues
The constraints in the implementation of Kalabagh dam can be describes as technical and socio-political. Almost all technical issues and concerns raised by the upper and lower reparians have been taken care of in the shape of design adjustments, while the socio-political factors remain unsolved to date, and are being exploited by those having vested interests. There are also misplaced fears in the general public of flooding of Peshawar valley and Nowshera along with negative impact on the drainage in areas of Mardan, Pabbi and Swabi. Lower reparians feared desertification of Sindh, non-availability of surplus water to fill the Kalabagh reservoir, negative effects on cultivation of riverian areas, sea water intrusion, mangrove forests and diminishing of fish resources below Kotri.

 Concerns regarding Kalabagh Dam have been fully analyzed by WAPDA an almost all of them are not sustainable considering the magnitude of benefits available to a large population of this cursed country. Benefits also include availability of water for entire Rabi, sowing and maturing of Kharif crops, 2600MW electricity and flood alleviation between downstream and Indus-Punjab confluence. The Water Appointment Accord of 1991 reflects consensus of all the four provinces over issues of new storage on Indus and other rivers. This should serve as the starting point for the construction of Kalabagh dam. The World Bank has funded projects like SCARP and NDP, which were to the tune of billions of dollars, but they failed to bring about desired economic benefits to Pakistan, because of wrong assumptions, corruption, malpractices and misplaced interests of the World Bank managers.

The severity of recent flooding in Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa is a direct result of excess water coming from the rivers. Kalabagh Dam would have prevented this catastrophe. Dams like Kalabagh would allow for better water management. Dams could direct the water flow to the world’s largest canal system and take it away from the flood pains. The loss of lives of around 500 people must be attributed to those who have opposed Kalabagh Dam and other such projects. Nationalist political parties in Sind and KP are major culprits. Due to their opposition to the dams for selfish personal gains, they must be taken to the task by those who have suffered as a result.

There is no denying the fact that in addition to bringing adown population growth rate and making Kalabagh dam, other feasible reservoir sites must also be exploited to utilize the invaluable Indus water, for irrigation and power generation, which flows almost unused into the Arabian Sea during summers. This is our lifeline and the only option for our economic survival.

Therefore, introduction of effective demand management through adaptation of mechanism for forecasting water availability is needed for adjusting water demand to water availability and developing criteria for water allocation.

Source:Weed Nedia Blog
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Saturday, September 18, 2010

Victory or a long-term Loss?

Though Pakistan has won the cricket match yesterday but my heart is still sad.When all the nation is busy in celebrating the victory ,I found myself lost in thoughts.All my friends,(most of them)are unhappy of me because I'm the source of spoiling their fun.Why I'm different? One answer: I've got a very sensitive heart. I donot like partying on little things when we have many other issues to be anxious at.
I prefer long term results rather than being happy on short-term  incidents' of happiness.

The news of cricket match victory came at such a time, when Punjab government was taking back the facilities of buying new instruments from medical colleges and government hospitals as government lack funds for education.They are now even restricted to get the old fragile instruments repaired.I don't belong to any medical college and so i have no personal associations with this field.But i do have associations with the education of Pakistan , i do have associations with the future of Pakistan.Every sensitive citizen is compelled to think that where are we going? We have worth Rs 500000 to bestow every Cricketer when they win.Above all, it doesn't matter whether they are winning or losing they are still to get lots of money.They are involved in every crime, whether it be the illegal usage of drug or match fixing.All our love is for cricketers.

To me it seems more like a conspiracy where we our minds are directed to enjoy and party on cricket which is only an entertainment.We can easily calculate the down fall of a nation who prefer entertainment over infotainment/education.If we wish to progress,then we need to bring a change in our priorities!

What do you think it is Victory or a long term loss?
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Friday, September 10, 2010

Eid Mubarak

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Thursday, September 9, 2010

Islam is the ONE true religion!


 We all know that once again Islam has been attacked by some fanatic Christians, indeed they are cursed.Florida church has planned to burn Quran on the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.Moreover New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has defended the pastor's right to do so.
(Burn Quran day is being condemned globally by both Muslims and Non Muslims  see HERE)

Actually Islam is the only ONE true and a complete religion.Its teachings are still the same even after several years.Whereas, all the other religions have brought amendments in it.Thatshwy they all have lost the real soul of a religion.All true religions teach to respect every other religion and now this soul is present only in ISLAM.We the Muslims respect Christianity,Hinduism etc.Islam teaches it followers to not to use hate-speech against anyone and orders its followers to respect everyone's religious feelings.Islam doesn't restrict anyone to worship their gods either.History has shown that only Islam is a religion which actually supports freedom of speech and freedom to worship.

"Though Terry Jones is a pastor, he is very ignorant about the history of world religions. It is not Islam that makes people violent and crazy. People that wish to be extremists will use any resource, including their religion, as an excuse to control and harm other people. Many other religions, including Christianity, have been used the same way. In fact, slavery and racism in the U.S. were both supported for hundreds of years under the guise of Christianity. We all know now that those who were using Jesus’ name to enslave others were definitely not doing his will. The same goes for many Muslim Extremists. They do not represent all Muslims.
It seems that Terry Jones is forgetting about the loving spirit of the one he claims to follow. Hopefully one day, people will not be so ignorant and hateful to one another. Terry Jones does not speak for America and he definitely does not speak for Christians." -writes award winning writer and poet Jamthelbg here 

I challenge everyone to bring any historical record where Muslims had adopted such a heinous,sense-less,base-less act just to show the hatred towards others!!West is afraid of rapid-spread of Islam, so to overcome their fear anti-Islam lobbies keep launching filthy campaigns.Its not the first attack on Islam,But We still respect Christianity.Islam will InshaAllah dominate the world-no matter how much the enemies try to suppress it. You have hurt our religious sentiments but we will never reply you back by disgracing your prophet or the holy book.We equally respect Hazrat Esa(jesus Christ) as we respect Last Prophet Hazrat Muhammad S.A.W.Once again its only Islam which has taught us to respect EVERY prophet EQUALLY!

We leave our case on Allah!
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Sunday, September 5, 2010

Grafitti Art.

Today the child inside me wokeup and compelled me to revive my old memories.I was getting bored, i decided to make a grafiiti. Grafitti making is an art and not all can do it properly including me. I just tried and to my surprise the final form of the grafitti which came was perfect and m loving it.





Its childish but i really loved making it =)

P.S size is quite big which is not properly fitting into my blog :(
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