ISLAMABAD: As record monsoon floods batter Pakistan’s Punjab province, officials are calling for urgent investment in dams and water infrastructure, arguing that India’s stronger flood defenses have limited damage on its side while Pakistan reels from rising death tolls and mass displacement.
This week, swollen rivers in Pakistan’s Punjab have submerged more than 1,600 villages, displaced over 1.1 million people and pushed nationwide fatalities since June, when the monsoon season began, past 820. The mass evacuations began after heavier-than-usual monsoon rains and the release of water from overflowing dams in India triggered flash floods in low-lying border regions in Pakistan.
Experts say Pakistan’s meager storage capacity leaves it acutely vulnerable to both floods and droughts, a risk compounded by climate change, which is making the monsoons more erratic and intense each year.
By contrast, India has invested far more heavily in dams and reservoirs, giving it a significantly larger buffer against floods and droughts, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said on Thursday during a briefing to the prime minister in flood-hit Narowal district.
“We must identify those gaps in our infrastructure,” He said. “If you look at the River Ravi, India has made very strong spurs, embankments and dams on its side that they throw all the water at us as per their will.”
