ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Wednesday sought the timeline for construction of Nai Gaj Dam from the federal and Sindh governments, ARY News reported.
A bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed directed for an early completion of the water project, which is being put on back-burner for more than a decade.
Nai Gaj is an ephemeral river in Dadu district, which drains from the Kirthar mountain range and flows from Balochistan to Sindh.
It falls in Manchhar Lake after flowing through the arid areas of Kachho region.
A project of construction of a dam on Nai Gaj was launched by the government to utilize the rainwater has still been incomplete for more than a decade.
The court in a ruling halted cultivation of the katcha area land along the banks of rivers.
The chief justice ordered that the katcha lands along the rivers could not be used for cultivation of crops.
The bench also ordered the federal and provincial governments to initiate tree plantation on the sides of rivers and canals.
An expanse of land of riverbeds, which remains mostly out of river water, called katcha area, usually utilized by local farmers for cultivation of crops.
