Daily Times

THARPARKAR: Pakistan people’s party (PPP) candidate Qasim Soomro on Friday laid out his strategy pertaining to water issues in PS-55  election campaign for Nangarparkar constituency.

Soomro presented his work plan for educational projects as well as a strategy to improve the technical methodology of water related issues at Cafe Thar.

According to Soomro, life of the people of Nanagrparkar will change with the initiation of mega projects and schemes.

Establishment of Reverse Osmosis (RO)  plants will solve all the major water related issues.

PPP has promised to play a vital role in supplying water door to door within a month.

Soomro while presenting his work plan said that flood irrigation should be discouraged as people are completely unaware of its long term consequences.

He added, that if people are willing to conserve water for the harvest, than the state should take responsibility to introduce techniques for preserving water.

Soomro stressed that it was pertinent that the private stakeholders adhere to the terms and conditions of the irrigation sector so that others can also benefit.

Furthermore, PPP leader said that a clear vision was the need of the hour, like that in Punjab, where water scarcity issues are dealt by investing huge amounts in techniques like tube wells.

Soomro presented the idea of using wind turbines to produce energy in Thar as it requirement is 200 megawatt (MW), whereas the additional generation of energy can be provided to the national grid station.

According to Qasim, the solution to all the diseases like malnutrition, starvation along with others is water. He added that rather than rescuing people and extending short time support, issues needed to be resolved.

Soomro said that for Thar, canal system was not feasible as it works best on flat surfaces which Thar doesn’t possess. He added that India’s Indra Gandhi canal is one of the longest in the world and the reason behind its success is it’s flat surface.

According to a report published by Thar Education Alliance (TEA) pertaining to the status of education in PS-55 constituency, there are a total of 701 schools in Nanagrparkar.

Out of the 701 schools, 578 lack proper water facilities, 484 schools are without electricity. Whereas, 420 of the 701 schools are without any boundary walls and more than 357 schools are deprived of sanitary facilities.

Daily Times learnt that PPP Member of National Assembly (MNA) Faryal Talpur promised to provide water through a pipeline during her maiden visit to the area.

Jhaman Hirani, who is working on water solutions in Tharparkar told Daily Times that the area has eight different ecological zones that vary topographically, geographically and geologically.

Hirani added that with due consideration to these variations, it is need of the hour that various approaches are taken up including canal water/pipe water, sand dams, rainwater harvesting approach and ground water extraction with mechanical solutions.

He added,  imported expensive solutions like ROs and solar submersible pumps are not sustainable for Tharparkar a due to heavy operation and maintenance costs combined with huge impact in depleting water table of entire Thar Desert. Hirani stressed that the available ground water in first aquifer of Tharparkar should be saved as much as possible for us and for the generations to come.

Soomro while referring to his educational manifesto, said that as per  TEA’s report there are certain issues that persist in Nangarparkar.

His work plan to improve the educational sector aims at engaging the locals for the purpose of ownership than to participate as media practitioners to highlight the issues. He added that by providing the facility of training for teachers, parents and children it will be more easy to reach people.

Soomro stressed that once trainings are started than empowering girls education by establishing higher secondary schools and colleges will be the next step as they will be able to gain education without moving to Mithi or Hyderabad for higher education.