01 December 2004    Wednesday   18 Shawwal 1425

A case against Greater Thal Canal

Anger, outrage, bewilderment and trepidation are mild words to describe the feelings of the people of Sindh at this juncture of history. They are anxious as important decisions affecting their present and future generations are being taken without consulting them, and their concerns and voices are being ignored.

Look at the Greater Thal Canal (GTC) issue. Sindh questions its legitimacy and feasibility. The provincial assembly has passed unanimous resolutions against it and the people have spoken through massive rallies and strikes.

All that has fallen on deaf ears and the work on GTC is continuing unabated. One appeals to the government and the people to consider the following facts and help avert a great tragedy in making:

- Everyone knows it and Irsa, Wapda, the Punjab government and other GTC proponents agree that the country is facing a severe water shortage. That is the reason for non-compliance of the 1991 Water Accord. Where will water come from for this gigantic project? Isn't Sindh justified in its apprehensions that it will lose more water if the GTC became operational? History provides the answer.

- The GTC is to irrigate over 1.5 million acres of desert lands that will require more water compared to already irrigated lands. It means that a larger area under cultivation now will turn into desert in the southern province.

- The GTC will further strain the water-deficit irrigation system creating acrimony between provinces. How good is that for the already divided country?

- It denies the law of precedence and is at odds with the British Raj decision to disallow the construction of the canal on the plea that it would affect Sindh's water share.

- For a water project it is required to secure a certificate from Irsa to the effect that water is available for the project. Also for such projects PC-1 is prepared and necessary approval is obtained from the CDWP and Ecnec and then administrative approval is obtained, money is released and work is started. But this is what happened in the GTC case: the president laid the foundation stone and work started on Aug 16, 2001. The CDWP cleared the scheme on Feb 8, 2002. Ecnec approved the project on Feb 28, 2002.

Irsa issued the water availability certificate, over Sindh objections, on May 7, 2002. All these approvals were secured in six to nine months after the start of the work on the project. So much for good governance.

- The GTC command area comprises a fragile ecosystem. It will cause silting of the main canal, distributaries and watercourses due to the movement of sand dunes, difficulties in irrigating the command area gravitationally due to uneven topography, huge cost to level the sand dunes and very high seepage losses due to sandy soil.

- According to a report published in this newspaper on July 15, 2004, the World Bank has also questioned the economic viability of the GTC along with Reini and Kachhi canals. The bank has pointed out that either sufficient water is not available or better alternatives could have been pursued both on technical and economic sides.

- Thal, Kachhi and Reini canals are billed as flood canals to operate for 75-90 days only. However, the fact is that none of them is a flood canal as Thal and Kachhi are to operate during the whole 'Kharif' season and Reini will operate during the whole 'Kharif' season except 20 days of April. Again, where is the water for all of them?

Aren't we creating monsters that will soon feast on us?

AZIZ NAREJO

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