DUBAI – Former military dictator and All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) chairman General (r) Pervez Musharraf has announced to donate Rs15 million into the dams fund.
The announcement was made on the official twitter handle of the APML.
https://twitter.com/APMLOfficial_/status/1041411903698944001
In 2006, General (r) Pervez Musharraf laid the foundation and performed the ground-breaking of $6.5 billion Diamer-Bhasha dam and declared that all dams, including Kalabagh, would be built under the ‘2016 Water Vision’ to meet the growing water and energy requirements of the country.
“Water and energy are matters of life and death for us. We have to build all dams,” he had said.
The dam fund was initiated by the Supreme Court (SC) to construct Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand dams to fight water scarcity in the country.
Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar had said that construction of new dams is critical for its survival, promising that he would continue his efforts for the purpose even after his retirement.
Over the weekend, CJP Nisar had warned those criticising his dams’ construction initiative of invoking Article 6, which deals with high treason. He had remarked that elements hell-bent on creating hurdles in the way of building dams are traitors and enemies of the state.
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/pakistan/cjp-nisar-warns-of-initiating-high-treason-cases-against-dams-enemies/
The remarks came Saturday during the proceedings of a suo motu case at the Supreme Court’s Lahore Registry against free extraction of groundwater by bottled water companies.
The top judge has himself donated Rs1.1 million for the two dams. Directing the authorities to immediately start construction of the two dams in July, the CJP had also urged all institutions and individuals to play their due role for the construction of the dams in the country.
So far, the Dams Fund has received just nearly three and a half billion rupees.
https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/headline/pm-imran-khan-to-address-nation-today/
The fund witnessed a boost after the recent speech of Prime Minister Imran Khan, who urged the nation to donate generously for the construction of Diamer-Bhasha and Mohmand dams. In a televised address to the nation on September 7, Prime Minister Imran Khan made an impassioned appeal to all Pakistanis, particularly overseas diaspora to generously donate funds to help the Country build dams.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Imran Khan reiterated the importance of constructing dams in the country and said that the government is unable to make budget allocations for water-related projects because it is already under heavy debt.
Some Rs 906.2 million was received in the fund on September 11 alone, the State Bank said.
Meanwhile, the SBP in a circular directed the banks not to charge any service fee including interchange fee, merchant discount rate, transaction fee etc on the donations/payments made to the dam fund through payment cards (debit, credit or prepaid cards).
