The Sindhi nationalist leaders have organised a 'national conference on below Kotri water studies' here on December 28 and a protest demonstration on 29th in front of offices of the World Bank and Asian Development Bank, the two financiers of the controversial big dams.
The conference organised by Action Aid Pakistan and Pakistan Fisher-folk Forum would be addressed by PPP leaders including Fehmida Mirza and Taj Haider, water experts Shaheen Rafi Khan, Qazi Abdul Majeed, Idrees Rajpput, Professor Noman, President Sindhi Awami Tehrik, Rasool Bux Palejo, Dr Qadir Magsi, Sindh Taraqi Pasand Party, Hameed Asghar Shaheen, Seraikistan Qaumi Movement, Khadim Hussain and Mustafa Talpur of AAP.
Sources told Business Recorder that under the Water Accord 91 agreed by the four provinces, the government recently carried out a study through the independent local as well as foreign consultants which determined that about 9 MAF water released below Kotri Barrage annually was sufficient to meet the ecological and environment preservation needs of the Indus Delta and more than 120 MAF water was available in the Indus river for storage in the big reservoirs.
However, Sindhi nationalists and water experts, researchers and the Indus Delta community have raised serious objections about the findings of these studies and said that due to water shortage down stream Kotri for past decade, the sea had intruded 2 million acres of fertile land, depleted 0.15 million acres of mangroves cover and about 1.8 million population had gone below the poverty line.
The organisers of the conference said that the moot would provide an opportunity to the water experts, civil society organisations and the affected community to sit together and discuss the studies to provide uniformity to the diversified aspects and concerns of the stakeholders.
They said that they would hold a protest demonstration in front of offices of World Bank and Asian Development Bank, the major financiers of the controversial project.