LAHORE, Dec 09 (NNI): Punjab Chief Minister Parvez Elahi said on Friday Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had ignored Punjab’s interests for his politics.
Speaking about the Greater Thal Canal project, the chief minister said if the project – funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) under a loan agreement – was not approved by the federal government until Dec 13, the agreement would automatically expire.
He said Shehbaz had ruined the livelihoods of peasants and cultivators who need canal water for their crops. He further said the project was granted approval by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) but the federal government was not serious about it. He said the construction and restoration of Greater Thal Canal would be carried out in phases. It would result in irrigatation of 600,000 acres.
As for the inter-provincial conflict over the distribution of canal water, Mr Elahi said Punjab would use canal water as per 1991’s Water Apportionment Accord (WAA) and if it was not used, it would go to the sea. NNI
Shehbaz Sharif prefers politics to interest of the masses: Parvez Elahi
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