Daily Times

LAHORE –Former Punjab chief minister and provincial president of Pakistan People’s Party MianManzoor Ahmed Wattoohas demanded of the Punjab government to defer the Lahore Metro Train project indefinitely and instead spend Rs 165 billion on building network of dams in the largest province of Pakistan to conserve rain waters for the future of the agriculture.

He wondered when this government would see sense in building water reservoirs in the province when Pakistan has been placed at number three of the worst-hit country by the findings of the international studies due to pitfalls of climate change, a statement said issued here. Wattoosaid that the PPP would launch movement to mobilise public opinion in favour of dams and against the Lahore Metro Train project if the government did not abandon the project.

He said that the Lahore Metro Train project characteristically was the height of the flawed development strategy of the Punjab government led by Shahbaz Sharif.He said that the PML-N government had been in power in Punjab for about two decades but it could not pay attention to build water reservoirs in the province, reflecting the shortsightedness of its leadership that could not see dangers of drought in near future.

The PPP leader recalled that floods seemingly had become a regular feature due to erratic weather pattern causing hundreds of billions of losses of life, property and crops throughout the province each year.Thegovernment led by Shahbaz Sharif was – regretfully – obsessedwith the flashy and showy projects those have disproportionate relevance with the welfare of the large section of the populace, he said.

He maintained that Pakistan was blessed in abundance with precious water resource that should be used to boost agricultural production and cheap electricity generation making industry highly competitive in the international market. But, incompetence to harness this potential to put Pakistan on the trajectory of accelerated growth of the economy was unforgiving, he said.

He argued that Pakistan would have been facing the worst type of starvation today if Tarbela Dam – inauguratedby the late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto – and the Mangla Dam had not been built in Pakistan.