Irrigation officials make millions while Sindh drowns

KARACHI: The officials of the Sindh Irrigation Department have used the recent flashfloods as an excuse to shamelessly embezzle funds as the country struggles to get back on its feet, a report by Pakistan Today revealed.
Two years ago, the current Singh Irrigation and Power Minister Jam Saifullah Dharejo was replaced by Syed Murad Ali Shah by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government because of the charges of corruption against him.
Dharejo used his influence and was given the position again this year. At a meeting before the floods, chaired by Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, officials from the department demanded the release of Rs 60 million for stone-pitching to make protective embankments. After the release of funds, few trucks of stones were unloaded at Kotri and Kamber-Shahdadkot and millions of rupees were reportedly misappropriated by the officers.
Various lawmakers confessed on the television programmes later that no stone-pitching had been done. “You cannot audit their funds they will say the embankments were washed away with the floods,” an Irrigation expert said. Another demand for Rs 40 million was made and the money was released by the government.
But there is no saying where it was used since scores of major cities and towns of the province such as Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Kashmore-Kandhkot, Qamber-Shahdadkot, Dadu and Khairpur Nathan Shah are still surrounded by floodwater.
When asked by the government to drain out the water, the Irrigation department demanded another installment of funds worth Rs 1.9 billion, saying that the process of pumping out water will take at least three to four months. Rs 1 billion were released for this purpose. According to the new proposed plan, the draining of floodwater from Jacobabad, Kashmore-Kandhkot and Shikarpur districts will begin on December 27, 2010 and be completed by February 15, 2011.
This process would be started in Kamber-Shahdadkot and Dadu district in mid-February and by the end of February in Johi town and Sehwan Sharif. After the floodwater is pumped out, the Irrigation Department is planning to plug the breaches in the canals and the process will take another two months, implying that the reopening of the Indus Highway from Sehwan Sharif to Larkana districts would take four months.