Taking serious notice of the administration’s failure in providing relief to the population in rain-affected areas of Badin and other lower Sindh areas, Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah directed the district coordination officers (DCOs) and heads of important provincial departments on Wednesday to ‘come up to the people’s expectations’.
He said this while speaking at a high-level meeting to discuss rain emergency measures at the Chief Minister’s House.
“The administration has failed to come up to the expectations of the people,” he said, directing that coordinated, concerted and effective measures be evolved to face the situation and provide immediate relief to the families affected.
“The affected people are suffering while there are complaints of mismanagement and inadequate arrangements. It is the responsibility of district administrations, DCOs and important departmental heads to do the needful for relief and rehabilitation of the people displaced,” said Shah, while presiding over the meeting also attended by Sindh Finance Minister Murad Ali Shah, Irrigation Minister Jam Mehtab Dahar, Rehabilitation Minister Haji Muzaffar Shujra, Chief Secretary Raja Mohammad Abbas, Planning and Development Additional Chief Secretary Ishaque Lashari, Board of Revenue Senior Member Shahzar Shamoon, secretaries of Irrigation, Agriculture, Health and Livestock departments, Sindh Rural Support Organisation CEO Sono Kangrani and Secretary to Chief Minister Alamuddin Bullo among others.
According to an official handout, the chief minister termed the recent rains in lower Sindh as a disaster that has caused huge losses in six districts; Badin, Tharparkar, Mirpurkhas, Tando Mohammad Khan, Tando Allahyar and Umerkot, and around one million people were badly affected. “We will have to look after their basic needs of shelter, food and other requirements,” he added. He said that all departments have to remain alert and work hard to handle the situation.
He added that besides relief of ration, tents, healthcare and shelter, cash has also been released to DCOs in affected districts, while there will be accountability of all such releases. He directed all those concerned that it should be ensured that all relief items reach the hands of the affected people. He also stressed upon philanthropists and affluent persons to help the affected people.
Asserting that relief camps be properly maintained with coordinated efforts, Shah directed the respective officers to send him their daily performance report. He also directed the Agriculture Department to apprise and motivate the growers and zamindars to cultivate alternate crops of pulses, fodder, sunflower and vegetables.
In his detailed briefing, Sindh Rehabilitation Department Secretary and Provincial Disaster Management Authority Director General Pir Bux Jamali informed the participants of the meeting that in District Badin, five talukas of Badin, Shaheed Fazul Rahu, Tando Bago, Talhar and Matli were severely affected with two people dying and 198 others injured. He said that more than 62,162 persons are being looked after in 239 relief camps.
In District Tando Mohammad Khan, three talukas of Bulri Shah Karim, Tando Mohammad Khan and Tando Ghulam Haider were affected, where eight persons have died and 9 more were injured. He added that 63 relief camps were established, where 5,670 persons are being kept.
In District Mirpurkhas, six talukas namely Jhuddo, Digri, Mirpurkhas, Kot Ghulam Mohammad, HB Mari and Sindhri were badly affected by rains and 14 persons were killed while 198 others injured. In the district, 102 relief camps were set up, where 17,257 people displaced are lodged.
In District Tharparkar, four talukas of Mithi, Deplo, Chachro and Nangarparkar were badly affected and five persons had died and 8 others were injured, said Jamali.
The Irrigation minister and secretary highlighted the damages done to the irrigation network. They said that the design of Left Bank Outfall Drain can contain up to 43mm rainfall but it has rained more than 300mm. The discharge level crossed 10,000 cusecs and three breaches were plugged while work is in progress at the RDD 359.
It was informed at the meeting that besides relief goods, the Badin district was provided with Rs 70 million, Tando Mohammad Khan district Rs 10 million, Tharparkar district Rs 5 million, Mirpurkhas district Rs 20 million, Umerkot district Rs 3 million, Tando Allahyar district Rs 2 million and Thatta district Rs 3 million.
In Badin, a total of 4,700 tents, 4,324 family packets, 7,200 rice bags of 50 kg, six dewatering pumps, 1,920 blankets, 100 water purification units, 100 mosquito sprays, 1,000 plastic mats, 300 jerrycans, 2,000 flour bags of 10 kg, 120 sugar bags of 50 kg, 120 gram pulse bags of 50 kg, 800 ghee packs of 2.5 kg have been supplied by the government.
Moreover, the Agriculture and Health departments presented the losses sustained in the rain-affected districts.
