Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Saqib Nisar has said that if necessary pre-emptive measures are not taken on an immediate basis, the country can face severe water scarcity by 2025.
Addressing the inauguration of a new building in the Karachi registry on Tuesday, Justice Saqib Nisar said that he had come up with the plan of construction of Diamer-Bhasha Dam after seeing decreasing water table in Quetta and Karachi.
“When we made a commission on water, we came to know that there exists a water mafia in the city. We can address the issue with better management. Our eight-month-year-old initiative is yielding results.” The CJP further stated that the mineral water companies were using as much as seven billion gallon water and very soon Rs1/liter tax would be imposed on water companies. “Earlier, there were zero charges on companies. But with the imposition of taxes, we can generate taxes worth billions of rupees for the dam fund,” he added. “In the next 30 years country’s population could go up to 450 million and the situation demands immediate institutional reforms in the country,” he added.
Published in Daily Times, December 12th 2018.
