According to the Provincial Minister for Irrigation and Power, Sardar Aslam Bizenjo, claimed that the federal government had refused to finance the projects in water sector advising the Provincial Government to finance the schemes from its own resources.
The Minister said that the Government had already spent 25 per cent of money on the projects and all these spending will go waste if they same were not complete with the financial assistance from the Federal Government.
Sardar Aslam Bizenjo immediately apprised the Chief Minister, Nawab Aslam Raisani informing him about the refusal of the Federal Government to provide funds for schemes in water sector.
The Government had planned to construct at least 100 small dams besides six or seven medium size dams in all parts of Balochistan overcoming the shortage of water for irrigation and bringing more areas under cultivation.
Later the Chief Minister along with Sardar Aslam Bizenjo had a joint meeting with the Governor of Balochistan, Nawab Zulfiqar Ali Magsi, informing him about the situation arising out of refusal to finance implementing schemes in water sector, mainly the proposed small dams on seasonal rivers.
They requested the Governor to convene a meeting of the Balochistan Assembly discussing this and other issues of immediate importance. There were reports that the Governor is expected to convene a session of the Provincial Assembly on August 5 next.
The Chief Minister, Nawab Mohammad Aslam Raisani, had also expressed his anger on discontinuing the subsidy on tube-wells and said he would take up the issue with the Prime Minister. He rejected the contention of the QESCO on this issue.
However, the environmentalists are opposed to granting any subsidy to owners of tube-wells on two counts claiming an environmental disaster as water table is going down as a result of indiscriminate withdrawal of subsoil water. They feared that the Quetta Valley would become a desert soon if the indiscriminate withdrawal of subsoil water is stopped immediately and effectively. Secondly, the owners of tube-wells are paying a meager amount of money causing a shortfall of power supply to all other sectors of the economy. It had caused power fluctuation and also prolonged load shedding as more than 50 per cent of the connections to tube wells are illegal and unauthorized.
http://thebalochhal.com/2010/08/islamabad-refuses-to-finance-water-schemes-in-balochistan/
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