News Desk |
Prime Minister Imran Khan has appreciated the people of Pakistan for donating generously to the Diamer-Basha and Mohmand Dam funds upon his appeal. In a tweet on Tuesday, he recognized the efforts of the countrymen towards the national cause.
He posted a picture on his Twitter account showing the latest figures of collected money in the account. A hefty amount of Rs.10 billion has been collected in the form of donations.
I would like to pay tribute to the generosity of the people of Pakistan for raising Rs 10 billion for the Dams' Fund. pic.twitter.com/9PFbiLYmKk
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) March 12, 2019
The dam funds were initially created by former Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar owing to the water scarcity affecting the country. Prime Minister Imran Khan joined the campaign shortly after taking oath as the 22nd Prime Minister of Imran Khan. The drive started in July last year.
The fund’s collection drive suffered a setback when Saqib Nisar post-retirement stated that the funds were created to spread awareness and not for the actual construction of dams.
The collected amount of Rs.10bn is 1% of the total amount needed to build the dams. In a speech last year, he requested the people of Pakistan particularly the nine million overseas Pakistani to contribute generously, nearly $1000 for the “noble cause”. The total amount needed for the construction of dams estimates to be around Rs.1.5tr.
In his speech, he warned that the country could face the drought-like conditions if Pakistan does not increase its water storage capacity. “I want to commend Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar [for starting the dams fund], but this was not his job,” he had said. “This was the job of civilian leaders who knew this was going to swell into a crisis but did nothing to thwart it,” said Imran Khan.
Former Chief Justice Saqib Nisar also attended various international charity event organized for the construction of dams.
Read more: Build dams or face starvation
The fund’s collection drive suffered a setback when Saqib Nisar post-retirement stated that the funds were created to spread awareness and not for the actual construction of dams. The campaign, however, is expected to resurge after Imran Khan’s today’s message.