Following PM’s Appeal, Punjab Cabinet To Donate One Month Salary In Dams Fund

Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar said that dams are the need of the hour

Islamabad (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News – 8th September, 2018) Following Prime Minister Imran Khan’s appeal, the Punjab Cabinet has announced to donated its one month salary in the dams fund.

According to media reports, the Punjab cabinet will donate its one-month salary in the fund dedicated for the construction of Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand Dams.

Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar said that dams are the need of the hour, adding that the Punjab cabinet will fully support the construction of dams.

Prime Minister Imran Khan made an impassioned appeal to all Pakistanis, particularly its overseas diaspora on Friday to donate funds in US Dollars to help the country build dams, as it faced major droughts by the year 2025.

"The future of our next generations will be in jeopardy, if we do not take any urgent steps to build water reservoirs," Prime Minister Imran Khan said in an address broadcast on the national television networks and said the country faced a "serious crisis".

"Construction of a dam for Pakistan today is inevitable," Imran Khan said and pointed that the country had an average water storage capacity of only 30 days, as compared to 190 days of India and 1000 days for Egypt. He said on an average, a country should have 120 day storage capacity.

He said in 1947, the water storage for each Pakistani was around 5600 cubic meters, while today, it had dwindled to 1000 cubic meters.

The prime minister said the experts had already warned about the impact of climate change on Pakistan and said the country was expected to be hit by a drought by the year 2025.

He warned that Pakistan would not have any water for its crops and for feeding its people.

"I laud the Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Saqib Nisar for his initiative for launching funds for the construction of dams." He admitted that though it was not the job of the Chief Justice to take this step, but it was the responsibility of the political leadership of the country. He however regretted that they failed to do their duty.

Chief Justice Saqib Nisar took the initiative of collecting fund for construction of Diamir Bhasha and Mohmand dams from the people of Pakistan and to build the gigantic projects without any foreign assistance on July 6. According to the information available on the official website of the Supreme Court an amount of Rs 1.9 billion had been added to the fund by this evening.

The prime minister announced merger of the Prime Minister's Fund and that of the Chief Justice and made an appeal to the overseas Pakistanis to send in remittances for the dams in US dollars.

"I urge all overseas Pakistanis to send in at least 1000 US dollars each. Those who cannot send it in one go, they may send as much as they can," Imran Khan said and added that there were around eight to nine million Pakistanis living abroad.

"We will not only get the money for the dams, but will also get the urgently needed foreign exchange reserves," the Prime Minister said. He expressed the hope that with the funds available, Pakistan will be able to build the dams in five years.