Pakistan

Dammed Hunza River: 12 ft reduction in water level during 30 hours

PT Report

Shishkat, March 20: Water level in the dammed Hunza River has gone down by only 12 feet during the last 26 hours, according to local people. Yesterday, the FWO, according to media reports, had used 1,000 Kilograms of explosives to open the manually blocked spillway.

Initially there were reports that around 30,000 Cusecs of water was discharged but the discharge rate has gone down.

The water level has, so far, not reached its previous position.

An official of the FWO had yesterday said that water level may reduce by 18 ft, meaning a net reduction of 6 ft in the initial position.

People have been questioning the capacity of FWO to carry out such operations and now, apparently, there is a great concern among the communities about their future.

“They are wasting time”, a social activist from Sost told Pamir Times on phone.

According to reports, two members of the GBLA had written a letter to Qamar Zaman Kaira, former interim Governor of GB, showing concern about the capacity of FWO to carry on the task. Their concerns seems to have become true because after working for more than three months and getting tens of millions of rupees from the national exchequer, the issue remains unresolved.

NATCO BOAT ENGINE FAILS

There are also reports that engine of a recently launched boat has failed. The authorities have, reportedly, invited a technician from Karachi to fix the fault. The boat service had been launched a couple of days back, amid much pomp and shown, by the none other than the Chief Minister of GB, Syed Mehdi Shah, and Speaker GBLA, Wazir Baig, in presence of several government officials, including NATCO MD, Zafar Iqbal.

Questions have been raised about quality of the boats because, reportedly, they were bought at high prices from funds allocated for rehabilitation of the lake affectees.

NATCO BOAT FARES

People have also raised objections over the fares being charged by NATCO boats for transportation in the lake. “The Government of China had sent thousands of litres of petroleum products for the lake affectees. NATCO should use the diesel obtained from China to operate its boats”, a boat commuter from Hussaini village told PT on phone from Aliabad, Hunza. He said that the boat charged him PKR 100 for one-way travel.

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