“Kalabagh” "A Need, Or Diversion?"

Kalabagh, a mega-project of a hydroelectric dam that has a generation capacity of about 3600 Mega-Watts of electricity located in the district of Mianwali of Punjab Province in Pakistan, is a controversial dam since its inception.  Whenever talked about the issue of short-fall of electricity in Pakistan, the government officials and authorities take the shield of Kalabagh and tell people that the government is willing to work on the project but the locals aren’t willing to go for it. They blame it on the people of that area by promoting different feelings against them like, they are illiterate, they don’t have the capacity to understand the severity of the issue, and they have prejudice against the people of the central Punjab, blah blah blah… Well, I’m telling you, it ain’t gonna work no longer.

Firstly, the locals of the area have the right to decide what is best in their interests. So, they are not to challenge the people’s decision. Secondly, the government is just diverting the whole issue of Power with a mere excuse of controversy of Kalabagh. You can see the impact they have created by noticing that even if you talk about the Power issues of Pakistan in a bunch of total illiterates, they won’t hesitate to throw in a stone of Kalabagh, and then the discussion turns on, in which it’s People talking against People with government being automatically released or forgotten from the blame.

I’m not just saying it. You can see it by yourself. We have a lot of dams in Pakistan which are not controversial and even China’s Three Gorges Dam Organization (the company that built the largest world’s dam of capacity 30,000 MW) is willing to invest 20 billion US dollars in the energy sector of Pakistan.

  

1.    We have Bunji Dam of 7200 MW capacity which is double of Kalabagh, keep in mind that Kalabagh is only 3600MW. Bunji Dam is in Gilgit-Baltistan and its also not controversial.
2.    We have Dasu Dam which is located in the downstream of Basha Dam. Dasu has a capacity of 4300 MW.
3.    We have Yublo Dam in Gilgit Baltistan of 3000 MW.
4.    We have Thakot and Patan Dams, each of 2800 MW.
 

These are all the Mega-Projects. A lot of projects are waiting in the list of bit smaller capacities yet huge importance in AJK. AJK government is willing, China is willing to invest but our politicians are just sitting around and waiting for the own interests to be fulfilled. These dams include Kohala, Mahl, Azad Patan, Karot and Chakothi etc. A lot of other dams are also in the waiting list but you can see by yourself how the government is turning a blind eye on the issue yet it’s not getting any blame by playing the “KALABAGH DIVERSION GAME”.
 

Message from Freedom Writers: It’s time for us to take a stand and put an end to the prejudice created by our government against our own people. The “KALABAGH DIVERSION GAME” won’t work any longer.