A three-member Supreme Court bench on Thursday rejected the Sindh government’s report over the devastation caused by the recent floods in the province, directing it to submit a fresh report based on ground realities. The bench of Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Tariq Parvez and Justice Ghulam Rabbani was hearing a petition filed by former MNA Marvi Memon, in which she furnished documentary evidence about the non-implementation of last year’s flood inquiry commission’s report.
During the hearing, the chief justice observed that the masses were suffering due to heavy floods and living in a miserable condition, while the Sindh government was doing nothing. Sindh Additional Advocate General Miran Muhammad Shah submitted a report on flood devastation on behalf of the Sindh government, but the court rejected it saying it was concocted. The court noted that not a single question asked by the court had been answered.
The bench pointed out that according to additional documents submitted by Marvi, the government was giving only Rs 11 to each flood-affected family. Shah, however, stated that the government was giving Rs 20,000 each to the flood-affected family. The chief justice observed that this amount was given to the affected people by the federal government, asking what measures had been taken so far by the Sindh government to give relief to the flood-affected people. “Your report is not even worth a read,” the chief justice remarked.
He observed that if the flood commission’s report had been implemented, the province would have been saved from the current disaster. The CJ said no action had been taken against the responsible people whose negligence caused huge damage during last year’s floods. He regretted that no action was taken against those involved in causing deliberate breaches in dykes and unauthorised diversion of floodwaters to save their lands during last year floods. He directed the Sindh additional advocate general Sindh to prepare a fresh report carrying the number of affected people, their loss, the total area affected by floods and measures so far taken and being taken to provide them relief, directing him to submit the report by September 26.
