Breaking the cycle of dependence

By Manzoor Chandio

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, June 1st, 2014

Sun, heat, sand, poverty … women in vibrant coloured dresses walking long distances in search of water; these are the images that are conjured when most people think of Thar. Now, the twin spectres of death and malnutrition have been added to this imagery.

Thar has been in the limelight for the past few months in the wake of the death of over 350 children caused by malnutrition and food and water scarcity, which has opened a new debate about developmental issues.

No doubt, the crisis has a direct link to the lopsided economic and development polices of the successive governments which have always focused on development of cities and ignored far flung arid regions. While most of the rural hinterland has river water and soil for tilling, Thar is an arid region where the people only depend on rain for water, and thus for food and fodder. A lack of rain means a famine-like situation.

The absence of even basic facilities has made Tharis dependent on nature and on spiritual ‘healers’ like Pir Saeen Pagaro and Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi. If the people have access to basic necessities of life it would help them to come out of the vicious cycle of dependence that they have been living under for generations and the miserable lifestyle that they have accepted as their destiny.

Simple interventions like road network and the provision of water will have beneficial effects on the lives of the people of Thar

The situation is so complicated that even experts fail to understand from where the government should start development work — the people are missing out on all basic necessities of life like water, food, healthcare, education and road infrastructure. Let’s start with that last one:

The road to progress

Development experts believe that a road network is essential for connecting the area with other parts of the country. While the southern strip of the desert in Umerkot and Tharparker districts has some road network and is accessible from Mirpurkhas and Badin districts, Achhro Thar (White Desert) in Sanghar district has remained underdeveloped because there are no roads at all. Situated along Sindh’s border with India, Achhro Thar can be defined as one of the most underdeveloped and inaccessible areas in the country.

Development experts stress the need for constructing a road from Khipro up to the border with India. At present most of the dates produced in Khairpur and Sukkur are exported to India through the Wagah border, despite the fact that Jaisalmer is the nearest city in India from Sindh. Trade opening with India from a border point somewhere in Achhro Thar will greatly benefit the area.

The road from Badin to Mithi and then to Nagarparkar — constructed during the Arbab Rahim government (2004-2007) — made it easy for NGOs to carry out welfare work in Tharparkar district. “We’ve installed 23 water pumping windmills near the wells used by villagers. The cost for moving machinery from cities to villages doubled because of lack of proper roads,” says Suleman Abro of Sindh Agricultural and Forestry Workers Coordinating Organisation (Safwco).

“Our intervention is limited and focused. We’ve worked in the fields of water and health with the cooperation of Hurr Jamaat because people in the area are followers of Pir Saeen Pagaro,” says Mr Abro. “When the aid dries up we stop working. It’s the government’s responsibility to lay the basic infrastructure but unfortunately, the government and parliamentarians from the area are not paying attention to the area. Under Article 38-A of the Constitution, the people must be provided facilities like health, education, livelihood, shelter, etc, without discrimination. Unfortunately, the people living in the remote rural areas as well as low profile urban areas are not getting their constitutional rights,” he says.

The problem with the Thari society is that it has become stagnant and immobile. They only leave their area when there are no rains and animals start falling sick due to lack of water and food. The road construction will give them access to markets where they can sell products they make from wool. Thari women are very good at making rugs from sheep and goat wool, in addition to rallis and embroidered clothes. Now they sell such precious things to the middlemen who earn lots of money by selling their handicraft in the market. If their handicrafts are promoted and they are granted direct access to markets in cities, it can become a good source of income for them and lessen their economic woes.

In addition to that connectivity would also increase Thari people’s interaction with developed areas and empower them politically.

In the absence of a hospital in the entire Achhro Thar area, the construction of a road would make it easier for the people to move patients to nearby towns such as Khipro. One of the villagers told Dawn that at present it takes days to reach a nearby town; if someone is bitten by a snake “we usually arrange for a coffin when the patient is sent for medical aid as in most of the cases they die before getting any treatment.”

Teach a man to fish...

Connectivity and road access is not the only problem plaguing Thar. The depletion of already scarce resources has devastated human settlements and compels a large number of people of Thar to migrate to other areas in search of water and food during the dry period. The yearly cycle of migration can be stopped with the creation of income opportunities in the area. “There is much talk of drought and vulnerabilities in Kacho, Kohistan and Achhro Thar. But since Achhro Thar has not received much attention from the media, the common people do not have much information about this most marginalised part of the province. The White Desert of Sindh has its own unique socio-cultural, economic and political landscape,” says civil society activist Zulfiqar Halepoto. “There is a need for an integrated development strategy for the arid zone of Sindh and in this regard we are starting our work from Achro Thar,” he said.

It’s not that Thar is absolutely dry. There is ground water in Thar, but it is saline, which makes cultivation impossible. This water can be purified and made potable after desalination.

Though desalination has been successfully used since the 18th century, Akhter Iqbal Zuberi, a resident of Karachi, invented a towered desalination plant in 1993, which uses solar energy and distils water faster than other methods in use elsewhere in the world.

He told Dawn that the Sindh government is funding reverse osmosis plants in Thar which are costly and need electricity for operation, while towered solar desalination plants, constructed with cement and glass, are feasible for arid areas like Thar because such a plant does not require electricity and there is minimal maintenance cost. The plant can be operated by an unskilled man, is cost-effective and can be constructed in remote villages. Due to its low construction cost and dependence on solar energy it is quite affordable for a country like Pakistan where we cannot afford expensive fuel.

Zuberi says that “This plant is the most productive desalination plant developed anywhere. This invention needs government’s attention. It can also help the people of Thar and Cholistan where there is a need to desalinate ground and saline water through affordable method.”

Zuberi’s plant won an award from Energy Globe Foundation in 2013.

Besides desalination of ground water, another way to meet the water requirement is rainwater harvesting. Tharis have been harvesting rainwater since time immemorial, but there is a need to modernise this system to overcome water scarcity when there are no rains. Some of the villagers say that they need plastic sheets to spread around the ponds to stop water seepage. The other method is to construct cemented walls, but this would be too costly and the poor people can’t afford it.

Besides road network and water scarcity, the people of Thar lack education opportunities as well. Most of the schools in the region are closed. According to Safwco, the literacy rate in Sanghar district is 30.9 per cent. The exact figures for Achhro Thar, where there are only a few schools, are not available; here female literacy might be zero. When the people are uneducated and unskilled they have no choice but to continue with their ancestral occupations. Most of the people are herdsmen and they don’t want to leave their areas. They do come to the barrage areas only when there are no rains and go back to Thar when grass is in abundance after rains.

Reviving livelihood of flood-hit people

By Manzoor Chandio

Nov 1, 2010

AS floodwaters slowly recede, people are returning to their native areas. With no disaster recovery plan in sight, it’s sure they will not be able to earn their livelihood because the entire place has been turned into debris.
Destroyed farms, cattle pens, shops and small cottage industries are a common scene in flood-hit areas. One such area is Khairpur Nathan Shah in Dadu district. There is a general feeling among owners of small businesses that it will take many years before their lives return to normal.
K. N. Shah located on the Indus highway was the main business centre between Dadu and Larkana. The town and its adjoining farmlands were ravaged by floods from the breaches in the main Nara valley (MNV) drain.
Among the crops worst hit were rice, cotton, sugarcane, vegetables and animal feed. Hundreds of shops along the main road and Shahi Bazaar have been damaged. Even pucca shops have developed cracks.
Traders returning to the town have been frustrated on discovering damages to their shops. Their future looks downright gloomy.
They told this scribe during a recent visit to the town that even if they restart their businesses, they will have to wait for customers from villages whose farmlands have also been destroyed.
They said, most of their customers were farmers living in the town’s adjoining villages. Farmers have been crippled financially with their crops and cattle washed away.
“Even if we rebuild our shops and start business unless the farming community is not able to cultivate one crop we’ll not be able to earn enough,” they said.
There is a faint chance of quick revival of destroyed infrastructure, roads and rail network and repair of public service buildings.
According to Zafar Junejo of Thardeep Rural Development Programme, some 224,630 acres of land with standing crop of paddy was inundated and some 1,785 cattle died during the recent flood in Dadu district.
He said that initially the TRDP provided boats and vehicles to rescue people and then supplied potable water and cooked food. But it will take time to help people in reviving their livelihoods by giving them small loans.
A good sign was that almost all people wanted to fend for themselves by starting their shops as soon as possible, instead of getting alms from the government.
“I have no hope the government will help me to rebuild my house,” said Abdullah Soomro. He said his family had lost its two bread earners during the flood and the government had not yet compensated for their deaths.
Aslam Shaikh, a cable operator from the town, said he wanted to resume his own business of cable service which he had started with the investment of Rs2.5 million, but the building from which he ran the cable system had developed cracks.
He said that he saved the devices but the cable network in the town was destroyed. Similarly, the town’s rice mills were under water.
It is very important that people must start earning themselves, instead of getting food and other services from the government and NGOs.
Mr Junejo said that self-motivation of people to restart their businesses was important, but they will need loans for it. Farmers will need seeds, fertilisers and tractors for removing debris from their land. Businessmen will need reconstruction of destroyed shops and small-scale cottage industries.
Livestock has also been hit because farmers were forced to abandon or sell their cattle and poultry in half prices in order to escape the floods. The government and philanthropists provided food for people but there were no plans to supply feed for animals. Thousands of cattle have died of hunger and diseases.
It’s important to provide goats, sheep and buffaloes to rural communities because rearing animals is the main occupation of the people.
Mr Junejo said that for restarting the whole cycle of business it was imperative that there should be schemes for empowering rural communities by providing small loans to purchase animals.
K. N. Shah has never remained food-deficit area, but the reduction in cereal production during floods could cause hunger. Two deaths by hunger have already been reported from the area. However, it appeared from the government inaction that overall prospects for the Rabi harvest are not bright.

manzoor.chandio@dawn.com

Mega projects: gainers and losers

Manchhar and Hamal lakes on last legs
By Manzoor Chandio
Written on July 23, 2007

MANY countries are currently assessing benefits of mega projects so that the advantages and disadvantages of such ventures are made clearly visible.
For Pakistan, such a review becomes all the more necessary because billions of dollars have been spent or misspent by successive governments for mega development projects, aimed at alleviating poverty but the outcome have been downright grim.
Barrages, dams and outfall drains have been constructed presumably to benefit people, but they are worse off with more and more people being forced into poverty.
Foreign money for mega projects has gone into making some new rich among big bureaucrats, consultants and contractors.
On the other hand, the entire communities in Sindh and Balochistan – a region blessed by nature with rivers, bountiful lakes, large tracks of fertile land, orchids, forests, animal and bird habitats, wetlands, coast and gas and oil reservoirs –face a dire situation.
These are hard time for peasants, fishermen, craftsmen and herdsmen of the two provinces. Their means of livelihood have been destroyed, degraded and over-exploited in the name of development.
With terminal drought, rising poverty and widespread unemployment, more and more people than ever before have been marginalised. Official economists may or may not have a good grasp of the dimensions of problems ranging from poverty in rural areas to breakdown of social values, but they have altogether ignored the destruction wrought by mega projects on natural livelihood on which people depended for a living for centuries.
“Dams, barrages and overexploitation of water resources have taken a toll on people and biodiversity as rivers have dried up, lakes poisoned and fertile lands saline,” says Dadu-based writer Aziz Ranjhani.
It is not the lack of assets but the destruction and over-exploitation of assets which has caused so much poverty.
According to some figures, out of two people one is extremely poor, who according to the World Bank, can't eat three times a day or even twice a day, drink clean water, wear new clothes, or participate in social get together.
In the words of the WHO, he is chronically under-nourished too. Thus every poverty-stricken person is striving hard to meet basic human needs like shelter, food, clothes, education and medical.
“Manchhar, the largest fresh-water levee in Asia, is dying a painful death. The dumping of effluents is threatening its ecosystem,” says historian and writer Professor Aziz Kingrani.
The destruction of natural assets has created problems like the breakdown of social values, vanishing culture and profound moral degradation.
How can the government reduce the number of mal-nourished people since two million acres land in Thatta and Badin districts have been swallowed by the sea? How can you raise per capita income of peasants whose assets have disappeared as a result of government policies-- and fishermen whose natural aquatic resource like the Manchhar lake and the Hamal lake have been made poisonous?
According to Prof Kingrani and Mr Ranjhani dams and outfall drains have permanently rendered two million acres of land barren and millions of people have been dispossessed. The coastal Sindh and Balochistan have been brought to the brink of ecological destruction.
Prof Kingrani and Mr Ranjhani said the dumping of excessive water into the Manchhar lake has brought the entire socio-cultural set up of Mohanas (the fisherman) on the verge of extinction. Prof Kingrani said the conversion of the sweet-water lake into the saline water has reduced the fish catch from 70 to 80 tonns daily to three maunds (80 to 120 kg) daily.
“It is a battle for the survival for the impoverished fishermen,” they said.
Writer of many dramas on social problems and articles on cultural heritage, Professor Kingrani told Dawn on telephone that: “The entire Manchhar area is sight of malnourished children, men and sick women trying to make a living on dwindling fish stocks”.
Almost 80 per cent of women and children suffered from one disease or the other. About 50,000 people had migrated from the Manchhar area to settle in other parts of the province.
Larkana-based social activist and chairman of the Earth Lovers Society, Mr Zulfikar Rajper, said the first right of people on their natural resources of livelihood must be recognised. A writer of three books in Sindhi, one on the degradation of Hamal Lake, Mr Rajper says if the Sindh’s rivers, delta and lakes were not rehabilitated, the communities depending on them for their livelihood would face starvation.
“Saline water being dumped into Hamal and Manchhar lakes has not only disturbed the economy but destroyed the cultural heritage,” says Prof Mukhtiar Samo of the Larkana Knowledge Centre.
“Thousands of people and large herds of wildlife depended on resources of the erstwhile life-sustaining and sweet-water Hamal lake and forest surrounding it, but these are being destroyed,” says Mr Rajper.
“The Hamal lake has expanded 150 kilometers long and 60 kilometers wide due to discharge of poisonous water inundating several villages and natural habitat of wildlife,” he added.
Mr Rajper said that about 30 years ago the Hamal lake used to be a large pond of sweet and potable water from where people of the area not only drank water but irrigated their agricultural lands also.
“There was forest-like thick tree plantation along the lake which served as a sanctuary for the wildlife,” he said. The migratory birds from Siberia would flock in thousands to find a cosy living here during winter.
“Before being turned into poisonous lake by the saline water and effluent of Balochistan brought by Heeraldin Drain into it, the Hamal Lake was a hub of economic activities.”
“People of the Kachho (lap of the mountain), as the area is called, converged at the banks of the lake during their leisure time and enjoyed themselves of the fresh air, watery environment and hectic activities of the fishermen in the water,” said Prof Samo.
The lake was teeming with the fish and fishermen always were seen sailing in the boats on its surface here and there for catching the fish. “But all these are the stories of bygone times. Now the lake has lost it’s all past splendour and glory due to the step-motherly treatment of the authorities,” says Samo.
He said that the main Nara valley (MNV) drain carries the water of Hamal Lake to the Manchhar as such impure water of Hamal affects the water of Manchhar Lake.

manzoor.chandio@dawn.com
__________________________________________

Keenjhar Lake embankments raising project:
A recipe for disaster

Research done by the Action Aid Pakistan in 2008
Report prepared by Manzoor Chandio

The Assuring Water Supply to Karachi project aimed at raising the Keenjhar Lake’s embankments is being carried out by the Sindh government at an estimated cost of Rs3.2 billion. The project is being funded by the World Bank and supervised by the National Engineering Services of Pakistan (Nespak).
The lake is spread over 50 square miles. Its storage capacity is 0.524 million acre feet (MAF) and usable capacity is 0.38 MAF.
It is feared that the embankments raising project, the third of its kind, will not only inundate several villages but also cause displacement of thousands of fishermen.
The project envisages the raising of embankments by three feet with a free board of a foot to increase overall storage capacity from 0.8 MAF to 0.9 MAF and the lake’s level from the existing 54 reservoir level (RL) to 57 RL.
Other components of the project are: Remodeling of Kalri Baghar (KB) Feeder to divert water to Karachi, construction of a spillway and metallic roads on the banks.
According to a survey conducted by the fisheries department in 1970 about 50,000 people lived in areas surrounding the lake. The 1989-90 census put the fishermen population at 24,355 with 2,200 boats. The population figures based on the 2005-06 census show now 10,320 fishermen are settled along the lake banks with some 820 boats.
The annual production of fish is being estimated at 15,650 tons which is in stark contrast to the 1989-90 survey. The fishermen’s misfortune began in 1958 when the need of additional fresh water supplies was felt for Karachi- the economic hub of the country.
The Keenjhar Lake was the nearest fresh water reservoir to Karachi that was capable of fulfilling its growing needs of water as the distance between them was about 125 kilometers.
Thus to fulfill the need of water of Karachi the 15-mile embankment was constructed to amalgamate the then two distinct lakes Keenjhar and Sonehri in order to raise the capacity of water storages in the lake.
It was for the first time that thousands of fishermen as well as non-fishermen communities were compelled to migrate from their ancestral places without having been given any compensation of their losses. There were thousands of acres of fertile land in areas surrounding the lake.
Before the water diversion about thirty species of fish were found in the lake. Now some of fish species in the lake have gone extinct. Many of the villagers had migrated to Punjab, Balochistan and Afghanistan due to decline in fish catch.
The KB Feeder supplies water to five talukas of Thatta between June and August, which is breeding season of fish and during the course the lake does not receive water inflows through the KB Feeder.
The lake’s inlets and outlets had no nets to stop fish seed from slipping out.
According to some rough estimates about 50,000 fishermen and 11,000 acres of agricultural land in Sonda and Jhampir union councils would be hit by salinity after the raising of the lake’s storage capacity.
Historically, the lake belongs to fishermen. It was granted to them by Jam Tamachi, a 14th century Sindh ruler.
The fishermen had close socio-economic and cultural associations with the lake, its environment, water, biodiversity and all the flora and fauna.
A number of development projects were initiated which were interlinked given to the fact that they were carried on with the single objective of supplying fresh water to Karachi.
They were as follows:
-Construction of Link Canal from the Indus River to the Keenjhar Lake.
-Construction of KDA Canal to supply water from the lake to Karachi.
-A number of extension phases to raise the capacity of lake for water storages. All the development projects brought unrepairable losses to local fishermen communities.
In the other words development was equal to destruction of local communities as it meant for them to become homeless and deprived of their natural livelihoods, means of living and social and cultural environment.
Khudai village, which is now under water, was once prominent trade center of Keenjhar Lake.
It was submerged when the water storage capacity of the lake was raised for the first time, but until now no compensation has been given to thousands of fishermen of the village compelled to migrate from the lake.
Issues and concerns:
1. No consultations have been held with local fishermen and non-fishermen communities before initiating the project regarding impacts of the project.
2. Thousands of fishermen living in 22 villages around the lake would be compelled to migrate from their ancestral villages as a result of water seepages from the lake as their villages will be severely affected by water logging and salinity.
3. The communities other than the fishermen who will directly affected by this project are Jakhra, Khashkehli, Bhambra, Baarich, Palari, Aatha, Dars, Brohi, Shora, Chowan, Hejib, Sarki, Sondai, Qazi, Sayyed, Soomra, Hindus, Dewan, Ismailis, and Helaya. Who are traders and little land owners.
4. Fifteen thousands acres of agricultural land of Sonda and Jhimpir union councils would be degraded by water logging and salinity, depriving thousands of farmers of their livelihood.
5. Additional water stored in the lake will be supplied to Danghi and Bhandar Island cities in addition to Karachi.
6. Due to substandard soil used in the raising of bunds will always be the risk of the breaking of bund that will result in a big tragedy. All major towns of the Thatta district will be at risk of drowning.
They are: Darro, Bathoro, Sujawal, Bannu and hundreds of other villages.
7. Tombs of Noori and Pir Hondal Shah are still present amidst the lake will drown in water and the tomb of Shah Hussain, Amir Pir and other historical graveyards and sites would also be affected that would also be a great loss to history and architecture of ancient Sindh.
A number of influential people have made their illegal occupations around the lake owing to their political and institutional pressures.
The influential people will restrict fishermen’s movements who are already suffering from a number of problems. Even the government departments are also responsible for adding to hardships of these unfortunate communities.
The illegal occupation of some army officials on an island of Keenjhar lake namely ‘Gadah Bhiri’ is an obvious example of the above-mentioned fact.

manzoorchandio@hotmail.com

Six facts to reject dams

By Manzoor Chandio
Written in 2006

1- Dams can provoke famines
2- Dams cause unnatural disasters
3- Dams cause waste of water
4- Dams are drain on economy
5- Dams destroy nature
6- Dams generate costliest hydropower

1. Dams can provoke famines

Dam protagonists in the country are propagating that the country would face famines if the dams are not constructs.
First, the question of any famine due to non-construction of dams in this country does not arise as the population density, according to the previous census, is only 106 people per kilometer.
There are no famines in the Ganges River basin and the Yangtze River basin, with an average population density 401 people per km and 214 people per km.
If any famine provoked in Punjab and Sindh, the backbone of this country’s agro-based economy, it would be due to water diversion by India as all major rivers, excluding the Kabul river, are sourced in that country.
The Baglihar Dam, located some 150 kilometers north of Jammu city on the River Chenab in Indian-controlled Kashmir region is being constructed in violation of the Indus Basin Water Treaty.
The Chenab is a tributary of the River Indus on which India has no water rights.
Besides, India is constructing three other big dams on the River Sutlaj, the River Ravi and the River Beas and a Wullar Barrage on the Jhelum River as the country wanted to have full regulatory and strategic control over the waters of Indus River System.
When the waters of the Indus river system will be in the hand of India it would be easy to destabilize the country because water shortage would ultimately alienate those at the receiving end like Sindh which is not only the tail-end of the Indus water system but also the last frontier of the South Asian monsoon rain system.
There are no underground water reservoirs in Sindh. And if any famine breaks out in Sindh, it would be due to behavior of leaders like the Punjab chief minister who wants more dams and water diversion for his province regardless of repercussions.
If we look at the causes of famines in modern times we can not find a single example where a famine occurred because of no dam was constructed. In fact there are no large dams in some of the world's richest countries like Ireland, Switzerland, Singapore, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Canada, Denmark, Austria and the United Kingdom.
Singapore exports everything but imports water. Civil wars can unleash famines like in the Horn of Africa and the Sub-Saharan Africa. Lack of democracy can also cause famines as in North Korea, Cambodia and Sudan.
Large dams which are very capital-intensive themselves can trigger famines because they swallow money that can be used on alternate development.

2. Dams cause unnatural disasters

It is said by pro-dam lobbies in this country that dams are necessary to control floods.
Those who advocate dams should know that dams on the ground suggest a doom-laden scenario. Simply erecting structures on rivers does not automatically help stop floods.
TIME magazine in its issue of Aug 9, 2004 had a cover story on South Asia's water woes which said that "unlike many other catastrophes, most water crises are man-made."
During this monsoon season half of Dhaka and two-third of Bangladesh came under floodwater. Reports suggested artificial structures on the Himalayan rivers, including dams, are the real culprit for this massive flooding.
What is happening during each monsoon season that flood waters from dams and barrages which China, Nepal, Bhutan and India store for lean period are making their way to this delta nation. First, torrents of ubiquitous rains are accumulated in artificial dams whose "poorly maintained embankments burst and irrigation channels and dams that had been allowed to choke with silt trapped the flood on the land".
If there were no dams, flood waters had passed through natural flood plains as they used to since centuries.
Quoting Sumita Dasgupta of the New Delhi-based Center for Science and Environment the magazine said "dams and embankments often block rather than facilitate drainage".

3. Dams cause waste of water

“Globally, 70 per cent of managed water go to irrigate agriculture” out of which 80 per cent is wasted due to seepage, irrigation inefficiency and conventional tillage methods.
In this country, out of 80 per cent wasted water, 70 per cent water is wasted in Punjab.
According to the WWF “drip irrigation systems for water intensive crops such as cotton can mean water savings of upto to 80 per cent compared to conventional flood irrigation systems”.
“But these techniques are out of reach of for most small farmers” because of Punjab and federal governments’ insistence on dams.
The WWF estimates that increasing irrigation efficiency on the Indus plains by just 10 per cent would allow two million more hectors of farmland to be irrigated.
The WWF says “Much of the water provided by dams for agriculture is lost and globally, some 1,500 trillion liters of water are wasted annually.”
The waste is “equivalent to 10 times the annual water consumption of the entire African continent,” it says.
The WWF says lining and strengthening of canals and watercourses could avoid the construction of two dams with the capacity of Tarbela, Pakistan’s largest dam.

4. Dams are drain on economy

According to the World Commission on Dams “on average, large dams go over budget by 56 per cent”.
That was why the World Bank in its recent report questioned the economic viability of the Greater Thal Canal project, Kachhi, Rainee Canal and other projects.
The report said: “This is more so when water supplies are not assured, command areas comprise sandy soils and high pay-off short-terms investments compete for resources.”
It points out that proposed irrigation projects are not viable either due to unavailability of water or ‘trickle down’ benefits.
The WWF finds that “large dams are also very capital- intensive and can be a drain on the national economy, especially in the poorest countries.”
“Proponents of these projects argue that investment in large-scale projects will contribute to development, if not directly then through the ‘trickle down’ effect. Indeed, the economists are questioning the 'economic growth trickle down' development thinking. The fact is that benefits of existing dams have not trickled down.
Poverty in post-dam Pakistan increased. Successive governments have spent billions of rupees on poverty alleviation, food import bills and debt retirement programmes.

5. Dams destroy nature

It is right that capitalization on water resources compelled many nations to construct dams. But this water draining had made rivers sick.
The world environment bodies say the problems may be magnified as more large dams are built in a river system resulting in an increased and cumulative loss of natural resources, habitat, environmental sustainability and ecosystem integrity.
The United States, the pioneer of dam technology, is decommissioning its dams one by one because they are draining its economy.
When the USA started dismantling the Edwards Dam on the Kennebec River The New York Times recommended “the removal of other dams whose environmental costs now outweigh their benefits.”
In America, several dozens dams have been removed. Those owned by private owners are purchased by the government and teared down. “Experience suggests that nature benefit when any dam comes down” says the NYT.
It is being strongly lobbied in Congress to dismantle four large dams on the Snake river to save a species of fish.

6. Dams generate costliest hydropower

“Many of the benefits conferred by dams -- such as hydropower -- are cancelled out by wasteful practices and environmental damage” says World Wide Fund for Nature.
Dams in this country have permanently rendered two million acres of land barren, millions of people dispossessed and coastal Sindh brought to the brink of catastrophic collapse. Keti Bundar and Shah Bundar no longer have any estuaries and harbors.
It would be preposterous to talk about ‘cheap’ hydropower without including the cost of two million acre lost in Thatta and Badin districts.
According to Sindh’s agricultural associations the province is losing 16 billion per year due to unavailability of water on time.
When Sindh’s need water it is stored in dams on the pretext of power generation.

manzoorchandio@hotmail.com

Kashmir Earthquake: Lessons for architects

By Manzoor Chandio
Written on Oct 20, 2005

MAN has never been able to predict earthquakes but making and enforcing masonry laws is not beyond his capability.
Construction of quake-proof buildings, especially for schools and hospitals, is important for safety of people who are more vulnerable, like children and patients. Hundreds of students of the Azad Kashmir University, 300 of them girls, were buried in the rubble along with their dreams for the future.
About 10,000 children and their teachers were killed in Azad Kashmir and some 7,000 in Hazara when school buildings were flattened by the quake. It may be mentioned that literacy is 65 per cent in Azad Kashmir and 95 per cent of children there are enrolled in primary schools. Tragically, most of the schools and colleges in the region are now in a state of ruin.
The most painful aspect of the tragedy is that many students were alive in parts of the rubble for up to four and five days but there was no heavy machinery to take them out. Desperate mothers were seen trying to remove the debris with their bare hands to take their children out.
Then, almost 1,000 hospital buildings collapsed killing thousands of patients, attendants and doctors. Not a single hospital building survived the quake and field hospitals were opened in tents.
No one will dispute that it was the weak foundation that caused the collapse of thousands of buildings and houses, compelling millions of people to spend chilly nights in the open. If there were appropriate building laws and provisions for construction control, the colossal loss of lives could have been averted.
In the San Francisco earthquake of 1889 which measured 7.1 on the Richter scale only 66 people died and 3,575 were injured.
“The highest concentration of fatalities, 42, occurred in the collapse of the cypress structure on the Nimitz Freeway where a double-decker portion of the freeway collapsed, crushing the cars on the lower deck.”
There were no reports of death of schoolchildren.
The Kobe earthquake of a 7.2 magnitude on January 17, 1995, hit a population of 10 million and there were 5,500 fatalities. A research conducted at the Kobe University said: “500 deaths were due to fires, and almost 7,000 buildings were destroyed by fire alone.”
In Hazara and Azad Kashmir, towns were built after the December 25, 1974, earthquake in the region that had killed nearly 10,000 people.
In the United States, the California Seismic Safety Commission’s Masonry Building Laws require owners “to strengthen or otherwise reduce risks in their buildings”.
Under the laws, 17,429 buildings were “retrofitted or demolished”.
We have not heard of any hazardous buildings in Pakistan having been demolished after scrutiny under seismic engineering.
The government can enforce regulations patterned on the International Building Code in use in 49 US states.
Poor construction practices played a major role in the colossal loss because stone walls are erected without mortar and builders are not required to take construction permits from the administration.
UN’s chief emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland is right when he says that “this is a very major earthquake but it’s really aggravated a thousand times by the topography.
An earthquake is bad anywhere, in the Himalayas it becomes much worse”.
What he adds is noteworthy that “in the tsunami we had much the same problem — the roads were gone, the communications were gone and we got around 100 helicopters in a very short space of time”.
In the areas hit by the October 8 quake only a few helicopters were operational. The question is who would help us in case of an ‘enemy’ attack if all communication lines are cut off and the infrastructure is destroyed.
It is a miracle that no damage was done to major dams by the quake.
Wapda said that “Mangla and Tarbella remained safe because they were designed with a potential to absorb shocks of earthquake of higher intensity than that of October 8”.
And a military spokesman said that no army bunker was damaged along the LoC because these were built to sustain heavy bombardments. It will not be inappropriate to suggest that in future other structures, including school buildings, should be built with adequate safeguards to ensure that these withstand natural disasters.
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