| SECTION II COMMITTEE MODUS OPERANDI |
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| 2.1 | SECTION SUMMARY: |
| 2.1.1 | The modus operandi evolved was to have an understanding of the water strategy through presentations by various Federal Ministries and Departments, followed by visits to provinces to seek position on the water strategy from government, various stakeholders, elected and non-elected politicians. Communication through media was considered an important element to share water data and information with the public. Details of the modus operandi are given hereinafter. |
| 2.2 | COMMITTEE MODUS OPERANDI: |
| 2.2.1 | After constitution of the PCWR, its first meeting was held on November 11, 2003 to discuss the TORs and develop an Action Plan to achieve the objectives assigned to it. Details of the action plan are given as under: |
| i. | Meetings of the Committee would be held in camera and some could be opened to press/public. |
| ii. | Committee would invite experts from the concerned Ministries/ Departments, politicians, parliamentarians, columnists, researchers, agriculturists and intellectuals even those who have had very adverse opinion on the water issue so that the committee could hear their point of views and later response can be given to them logically. |
| iii. | Committee would visit provincial project sites and telemetry system to have a first hand knowledge about things like working of telemetry system, etc. |
| iv. | Press release of each of the meeting would be released after the approval of the Chairman and immediately after the issuance of press release a copy of the same may be provided to all the members of the committee so that when they would meet any member of the press anywhere, they would have a common statement to make on the subject. In addition to a press release, if need be, there a press conference will be addressed by the Chairman and attended by all the members present at that time. |
| 2.2.2 | The President of Pakistan, on December 09, 2003, invited members of the Parliamentary Committee as well as the Technical Committee and advised them to perform their tasks in the greater national interest and that justice should be done to all. |
| 2.2.3. | The foremost task of the Committee was to have an understanding of the National Water Strategy. To achieve this, the Ministry of Water & Power, Ministry of Food & Agriculture, Ministry of Environment, and Federal Institutions such as, WAPDA, Federal Flood Commission and IRSA were asked to give presentations on water sector projects and related matters. |
| 2.2.4 | The Committee visited all the four provincial headquarters in the 1st round to basically seek provincial government position on the water strategy as well as views of various stakeholders. The following agenda items were given by PCWR to provinces for inclusion in their presentations: |
| i. | Water Plan/Strategy |
| ii. | Irrigation Projects |
| iii. | Bhal Safai |
| iv. | Lining of Water Channels |
| v. | Small Reservoirs: Location/Status |
| vi. | Position on Large Dams |
| vii. | Position on 1991 Water Accord |
| viii. | Environmental/Ecological consideration |
| ix. | Areas outside Indus Basin System |
| x. | Tubewells: Status and Plans |
| xi. | Position on Pakistan Water Sector Strategy |
| 2.2.5. | The Committee made 2nd round of visit to the provinces, in May 2004, to meet Provincial Assembly party leaders, leaders of political parties not represented in Provincial Assemblies, and stakeholders, including Farmer’s representatives, key NGO’s, Technocrats & Columnists, to seek their views on various issues of water sector. Several project sites were also visited. Details are given in Section-3. |
| 2.2.6 | The Committee had planned to visit all the prospective large dam sites in the country and some major dam sites outside the country. However, the visits could not materialize due to non-availability of financial resources. |
| 2.2.7 | Although the Committee did not have any executive authority, yet after interaction with Federal and Provincial Government agencies, and without waiting till submission of its Interim Report or final report, Committee decided to take actions/decisions to expedite implementation on important issues, such as studies below Kotri and Environment and allocation of special funds for provincial projects including small reservoirs. |
| 2.2.8 | Media communication constituted an important element of the Committees operations in order to share data/ information with the general public. For this purpose press briefings were held after all the meetings, totaling 12 in number. PCWR web site (www.pakwaters.gov.pk) was launched on April 26, 2004 to share with public key data and information on water sector and seek constructive suggestions. All important data presented in PCWR meetings was posted on the web site. To create awareness on importance of water, advertisements were released in the national press and a special song was aired on radio. |
| 2.2.9 | Chairman Technical Committee was invited to all meetings and site visits. |