Water & Power crisis to end after dam construction: Faisal Vawda

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda today (Monday) announced that he had a good news for the nation regarding water scarcity and floods in the country, ARY News reported.

The Minister announced that work would soon get underway on the delayed Dasu dam project which had been facing delays since the past few years.

Expanding upon the announcement, Vawda said: “the project upon completion would generate 4,320 Megawatts of electricity which had been politicized in the past and national interest was neglected.”

Talking about possible floods in the monsoon season, the minister said: “I had called a meeting prior with regards to fears and preparations incase of floodings in the country, a report on the meeting has been submitted.”

The Minister added that the provincial governments are responsible to act upon restoration and preventive measures against and after flooding situations and the federal government is responsible for building dams.

Vawda also referenced the inauguration of Mangla Dam Project recently done by the Prime Minister of the country and said that the water and power generations issues would be resolved in large part after both operations started functioning.

Talking about the Judge Arshad Malik video leak scandal, Vawda said that some people are trying to balkanize the country and create anarchy just because they are being questioned over their ill-gotten money.

Earlier in the day, At least 22 people were reported missing and feared dead after a flood ransacked into a village in Muzaffarabad’s Neelum Valley late Sunday night.

According to details, a local village adjacent to Lesua Nala saw massive flooding in the waterway resulting in the destruction of over 150 houses and ample people missing and or dead, according to initial reports.

Temporary camps are being set up to house the displaced people and food and non-food items are being gathered.

No bodies have been found thus far but officials say the chances of anyone being found alive are slim to none.

Telephone lines are down and roads leading to the village are blocked. Rescue officials are trying to get past the roadblocks to the village but the terrain is a difficult one and no worthwhile help has reached the effected area.

Commissioner Islamabad on the occasion said that prior forecasts for torrential rains had been issued and the flooding event was unforeseen and unfortunate.

Earlier, Pakistan Army has rescued all the tourists, who were stuck in the air after a chair lift wire detached from the pulley due to typhoon in Muree, on June 30.

A popular visiting spot in Muree, the elevated chairlifts met with a malfunction resulting in hundreds of getting stuck in the air precariously.

The rescue operation to retrieve and rescue all chair lift riders was completed by the army contingent along with the civil administration, and all the tourists were safely evacuated.

“Army engineers repaired the cable tower to rescue the tourists”, the army’s military wing said.

The Patriata chair lifts in Muree are a main tourist attraction, It is the highest point in the area and the hills stand 7,500 feet above sea level.

In 2017, at least 10 people were killed and two injured when a chairlift cable broke and it plunged into a ravine.

The accident occurred some 30 kilometres (18 miles) north of Islamabad in the Charra Pani village in Murree.

Rescue teams had shifted injured persons and the bodies to the hospital.

Work on Dasu and Mangla dams to begin soon: Faisal Vawda