Khawaja Zaheer Ahmed - PDMA

MINISTRY OF WATER & POWER
56. Federal Government Rules of Business 1973 assigned ‘matters relating
to development of water and power resources of the country’ besides
‘international cooperation’ in the sector, to this Ministry. Since dissolution of
erstwhile West Pakistan in July 1970, a fragmented approach has been pursued
in this sector, and to date no national water policy has been shared in public
domain. Maintenance of irrigation works, except Mangla, Tarbela and Chashma
are under Provincial I & P’s departmental responsibility. The Interim Poverty
Reduction Strategy Paper shared with DFI’s a few years back did not contain any
contours of land policy earlier. The Commission noted with dismay the NDMA’s
report that high level “Vigilance Committee”, constituted in the Ministry every
year to ‘function on daily basis to monitor and manage effective flood flows
downstream to avoid flood peak synchronization does not appear to have
been notified ‘ for the 2010 flood season. The Commission finds no justification
to institute or continue disbursement of discretionary funds for flood protection
works to the Minister incharge. Be that as it may, as most major and minor rivers
defy present Provincial boundaries, the Ministry, as the national focal point for
water policy, acting through four of its outfits had greater responsibilities, as will
presently follow:-
a) Federal Flood Commission (FFC) is an attached department of
the Ministry [Sr. 93 Schedule III RoB 1973], and is the lead agency
in the institutional framework designed ‘to support the provincial
flood management plans’. Besides ‘National Water Policy’, it is
responsible for periodical review of the flood management
framework, technical soundness of flood protection schemes and
plans, securing of federal funding and post-completion review of the
schemes, including construction of embankments and spurs along
major rivers/ canals systems, or works executed by the provinces.
Provincial Irrigation Secretaries and a few federal technical
agencies are duly represented on it. The Planning Commission
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