Rehabilitation of Kachhi canal necessary before formulation of strategy to cope with flood situation in future, says Chief Minister

Independent Report

QUETTA: The Chief Minister Balochistan, Mir Sarfraz Ahmed Bugti has noted with concern that the agriculturalists are facing hardships due to non availability of water in Kachhi canal as such there is a need to restore water supply in the canal after desalting.
The Chief Minister insisted that there is a need to rehabilitate the Kachhi canal before formulation of the strategy to cope with the flood situation in future.
He said that that the planning for prevention of flood is a long process, as long as it is done, the supply of water should be started.
The Chief Minister also stressed that the long term planning is necessary but immediate restoration of water is unavoidable.
He was speaking at the meeting of Planning Commission about the Kachhi canal project in which he participated through video link on Tuesday.
The Federal Minister for Planning and Development, Ahsan Iqbal presided over meeting of the Planning Commission.
Besides the Chief Minister, the Provincial Ministers and other high ups also participated in the meeting through video link.
Expressing the views about Kachhi canal, the Chief Minister noted that the project of Kachhi canal has been lying pending, which otherwise had started in 2002.
He said that the project was restarted in 2013.
The irrigation of around one lakh acres of land had been started under Phase-1 of the project, he recalled adding that the 2022 flood caused damages to the Kachhi canal and then water supply was suspended from there.
This also resulted in suspension of the cultivation in the command area due to closure of canal, he maintained.
He said that the people don’t have the water for drinking and forcing the dwellers to migrate from the area.
While the Chief Minister strongly advocated the need to restore water supply in Kachhi canal in view of the hardships of the growers, the Federal Minister was agreed with the proposal of Chief Minister Bugti and assured that the water supply would be restored in Kachhi canal immediately before the long term project of its rehabilitation.
He directed to the concerned high ups to start supply of water in Kachhi canal within five to six months