Dadocha Dam, Pakistan and our unimaginative bureaucracy
Dadocha Dam, proposed to be built near Sihala on the Kahuta road, would have solved the chronic water shortages of the twin cities. But it was not to be.
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Knowing fully well that Pakistan hardly has any developmental budget after debt servicing and military spending, the dam is still just on papers..jpeg)
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Instead, our bureaucracy sabotaged the project citing to the Supreme Court, bloated land purchase cost by Bahria town management..jpeg)
Now, we don’t have a residential colony; no roads leading into the dam site or connecting Kahuta road with GT road at Rawat; and also no water. Well done Babu Sahib.
Our bureaucracy is as unimaginative as a rock!
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Now, in the next global-warming induced drought, we will expect our Prime Minister to thank ‘Allah for his bountiful rains’, instead of doing something about it.
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Anyways, we went to the beautiful site from Rawat junction of GT road. After driving for one hour, we switched to off-roading in the last hour.
The topography of the land is unique, to say the least. Driving over high ridges, you get a view of the law of the land, sprawling with saffron fields and housing schemes.
This area is Gakhar territory.
Reaching the site of the dam we found slow moving water a few feet deep. The people tell me this water gets dangerous in flash flood season, as evidenced by the washed away crossing bridge.
It was a piece of cake for my 4×4 to drive over the slow moving stream. I had to get out into the water to check out for crevasses..jpeg)
Driving out the other side, we went towards Kahuta road and came out at Sihala town.
We had lunch at a driver hotel with tarkay wali daal, chapatti and doodh-patti Cha (tea). Dadocha Dam is a great site for a picnic in one of the several farm houses that are empty most of the times, except when the owners come to party on the weekends..jpg)
Another dam that need to be built is Kalabagh Dam. And do watch the video on Daodocha Dam by clicking this link.