GWADAR WITHOUT WATER, ANKARA KAUR DAM RESERVOIR DRIED

Balohistan’s future economical and port city is facing the problem of drinking water and the Ankara kaur Dam is empty now which was build in 1993. Thanks the wrong and defective designing and architect by the NESPAK. Balochistan National Party (BNP- Awami) leader Kahuda Babar told this scribe that leaders from federal government had always made tall claims that Gwadar is on its way for development but they cant see the local people of the Gwadar are facing acute shortage of drinking water. “The Ankara Kaur Dam is empty now there is no more water is available for drinking. If the positive steps are not taken than there will be the loss of a large number of the human life,” he said and adding that the former district Government had taken the water issue and they made the tube wells for local people but it is not fulfilling the full demand of the port city. He demanded from the federal government to take immediate steps in this issue and bring water from Mirani Dam. If these steps are not taken than the Gwadar city will be a ghost town in near future and people search for water or migrate to other human settlements. The Ankara Kaur Dam, built in 1993 and stretching over an area of 17,000 acres, remains the sole source of water supply to the local inhabitants. The crisis worsened in 2006 as population increased following construction of the Deep Water Port. Gwadar town and Jiwani are constituting 50 per cent of the total population of Gwadar district, they rely on the Ankara Kaur Dam reservior for all their water needs. Residents of the other three coastal towns of Pasni, Ormara and Sunt Sar are dependent upon seasonal rivers for meeting their demand. The citizens decried the utter failure of authorities to come up with a viable solution to the problem. “There are always making tall claims about developing Gwadar city, but in reality we are deprived of basic necessities,” says a local journalist Dilshad Diyani. “The government is doing nothing except making false claims. Gwadar has been suffering from an acute water shortage for the past decade, but no concrete steps have been taken to overcome this problem.” The incumbent provincial government, however, remains optimistic that they can overcome the crisis. “We have taken up this issue with the Chief Minister who visited Gwadar recently. He not only approved several water projects but also directed authorities concerned to expedite their efforts,” says Hamal Kalmati, Provincial Minister for Fisheries, elected to the Provincial Assembly from Gwadar. According to Kalmati, the Balochistan government has approved Rs 4 billion for Shadi Kaur Dam and another Rs 2 billion for Sawar Dam, both of which are currently under construction. To avert the crisis in the short term, a plan to connect Gwadar with the Mirani Dam in Kech district is also being done round the clock. However, according to Kalmati, the political administration in Kech is against the move. The crisis of water for Gwadar was expected when the wrong planning and designing of the Ankara Kaur Dam was prepared by the NESPAK. The storage are of the Dam had silted up in less than 25 years while it was designed for half century. The Government should start desilting the storage ground of the dam and also carrying out raising the dam on the pattern of Mangla Dam, local engineers and independent economists suggested.