NO TO DAM

Pakistan North West Frontier Province (NWFP) minister for irrigation, Bashir Bilour said in Peshawar recently that the construction of the Kalabagh dam could not be allowed at any cost as it was a potential hazard to four of the most cultivated districts of NWFP.

Elaborating, the minister said that the 900 ft high lake of the Kalabagh dam would negatively affect the southern districts because the ground level of these districts was higher than the maximum height of the lake. He stressed that the lake's water too could not be used for these areas because a 192-km wide mountain would block the water to the south.