Lakki marwat - Former MNA Humayun Saifullah Khan has urged the government to speed up work on the uplifting of Baran Dam project to increase its water storage capacity and ensure availability of water in canals for irrigation purposes.

In a letter to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, the former lawmaker said that silting of the dam had reduced water storage capacity resulting in drying up canals and turning fertile lands into barren areas in the district. He said the irrigation in the area was mainly dependent upon Marwat canal which was facing deficiency of water. 

“Due to deficiency of water in the canal the farmers have started pumping underground water through tube wells for irrigating their fields”, he maintained. Saifullah said that installation of tube wells on large scale was dangerous as it had depleted the water table. 

He said that thousands kanals of cultivable lands had turned barren owing to silting of Baran Dam and unavailability of water in Marwat Canal.

Meanwhile, Kakki Qaumi Syasi Ittehad, a local political alliance, took out a rally in Kakki town of Bannu district in memory of the martyrs of a militants’ attack on a police station. 

Around six people including three policemen and a soldier had embraced martyrdom when militants had attacked Kakki Police Station in December 2012. 

The family members of the martyrs, local elders, political elite and people from different walks of life participated in the rally.

Speaking on the occasion, the alliance leaders paid rich tributes to the martyrs and said that security personnel and local residents had set an example of gallantry by eliminating terrorists at the cost of their lives around eight years ago. 

“The martyrs are the real heroes of the nation as they offered supreme sacrifice for the cause of peace and eliminating the menace of terrorism,” they maintained.