- Malik says distrust persists between the provinces about prey and channels.
- The minister says that consensus on water infrastructure was missing.
- Telemetry only solution to end the lack of trust between the provinces: Malik
As the country shuddered under strong floods and the consequent devastation, the senator of the Federal Minister for Climate Change, Musadik Malik, has said that Pakistan suffers from an entrenched elite culture, where the properties next to the river belong only to the powerful instead of the poor.
“There is no poor man hotel on the riverbank, only resorts of the powerful,” he said while talking about Geographical news “PakGazette Pakistan” program.
Distrust persists between the provinces on dams and channels, and each suspects that the other water retention, he added.
“Baluchistan believes that he is private and that Sindh receives water but is not transmitted,” he said, adding that he had lacked consensus on water infrastructure.
The minister described telemetry as the solution to end the lack of trust between the provinces. The work in the project, he said, had already begun and was expected to be completed within a year or so.
Malik stressed that people have cultivated their crops within the river beds, which has further aggravated the situation of the flood.
He warned that Sargodha had begun to feel the impact of floods and projected that once the rivers converge in binder, the water flow could increase to one million cusecs.
He pointed out that the evacuations were carried out in early warnings, with both people and cattle moved to a safe place. In a case, 30 residents initially refused to leave their village, but were persuaded to evacuate; The waters of the floods have reached the area, he added.
The minister emphasized that without water deposits at Tehsil and District level, the country will remain vulnerable. He asked for the creation of natural water reserves in Pakistan to deal with future crises.
Pakistan is fighting the rains of the torrential monsoon that have unleashed sudden floods, swollen rivers and filled dams, with more than 800 deaths reported since the end of June. In the midst of heavy rains, India released excess water this week from its prey, swelling flow down river in Punjab.
The NDMA said that Pakistan evacuated more than 210,000 villagers near the Ravi, Sutlej and Chenab rivers that flow from India.
Pakistani officials said Thursday that India approved their third flood warning since Sunday, this time for the Sutlej, while the previous two waters were heading to Pakistan in the Ravi.
