02-22-2009, 06:51 PM
<b>Pakistan may send water experts to India</b>
ISLAMABAD : Pakistan has decided to send its experts to visit the site of dams being constructed by India on River Indus in the Ladakh region and Islamabad would shortly submit this request to the Indian authorities.
The expertsâ team, headed by Syed Jamaat Ali Shah, Commissioner of Pakistan Commission of Indus Water (PCIW), will during the visit assess for the first time as to whether the ongoing construction of the dams is as per the design allowed in the Indus Water Treaty, 1960, or not.
The decision came in a meeting held in Lahore on Saturday with Jamaat Ali Shah in the chair.
Officials from the General Headquarters (GHQ), Wapda, Punjab Irrigation Department, Pakistan Commission of Indus Water (PCIW) and Met office attended the meeting to discuss the impact of the said dams on Pakistanâs water and defence interests. The committee was convened in the wake of concerns expressed by the armed forces over the development.
The armed forces got alarmed when they came to know the said projects could play havoc with the Northern Areas, if the said dams get collapsed for any reason or malfunction.
A senior official, who was part of the meeting, told The News that the Pakistan Commission of Indus Water would asked the Indian Commission of Indus Water to arrange immediate visit, so that Pakistanâs experts could visit the site of the said dams.
When Jamaat Ali Shah was contacted to know what decision has been taken in the meeting, he plainly refused to divulge any decision.
However, the official said that in case India constructed the said dams, then Pakistan might face the damage it experienced in the case of the Baglihar project, as India in the project had attained the capacity to manoeuvre the flow of water through the gate-like structure on spillways.
In the meeting, the issue was raised as to why not so far the sites of the dams had been visited by the Pakistan Commission of Indus Water officials despite the fact that the construction work of the Nimoo Bazgo Hydro Power Project was in full swing and the excavation work for the powerhouse was 100 per cent completed and 48 per cent concreting for the dam up to the crest level had also been completed; the maximum construction work of the Dumkhar HE Project had also been completed. In 2006, the construction of the Chutak project started, which is to be completed in the next two years.
The official said a representative of the Punjab government submitted his written observations on the said projects.
In the meeting, it was also divulged that India planned to build more projects on River Indus to harness 2,060 MW hydropower.
âPakistan expertsâ visit may not be arranged immediately in the wake of the hard weather conditions in Ladakh, where the dams are being constructed,â the official said.
<b>He expressed the apprehension that India might even refuse to allow the Pakistani experts to visit the projects.</b>
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