Bureaucratic lethargy” – one of the most referred to term during the current government’s tenure – has been once again blamed for the Sindh government’s failure to provide compensation to the heirs of over 700 people, who have lost their lives since 2007 during different calamities that played havoc with the socio-economic infrastructure of the province.
This was observed during the Sindh Assembly session on Friday, where Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah had sent written answers to the questions asked by the lawmakers. However, the legislative house did not have the Question Hour due to the early adjournment in respect of the demise of Pakistan Muslim League-Functional chief Pir Pagara VII.
According to the chief minister, during the span of four years [2007 to 2010] Sindh witnessed rains and floods that killed at least 778 people and 490,552 cattle heads, damaged 862,885 houses and 6,036 government buildings, inundated 1.733 million acres of cropped lands and resulted in the displacement of millions of people in various districts of the province.
Shah – who also holds the provincial Relief portfolio – stated that the rains and floods in various districts of Sindh claimed the lives of 177 people in 2007; 40 in 2008; 84 in 2009; and 517 lives in 2010. Whereas, the Sindh government is yet to pay compensation amounts to the heirs of the people who lost their lives during the natural calamities.
However, the chief minister blamed the respective district coordination officers (DCOs) for not being able to swiftly complete the required paper work for providing compensation to the heirs of the deceased – once again highlighting the bureaucratic lethargy that has plagued the administrative abilities of the provincial government in its entire tenure.
“The compensation amount to the legal heirs of the deceased was not provided as the verification report was not received from the DCOs concerned,” Shah replied to the query from MPA Muzammil Qureshi.
Despite the lapse of two years since heavy floods inundated various districts of Sindh, the respective DCOs of the districts affected are yet to send the summaries detailing the extent of human and infrastructural losses to the Sindh Finance Department.
“All the DCOs concerned were requested to furnish the details of losses after verification from their District Relief Committees but the reports are still awaited though expedited time and again,” the chief minister stated.
Meanwhile, the provincial government has also failed to provide compensation to the owners of the properties ransacked on December 27, 2007 after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto or renovate the partially damaged government buildings in the Khairpur district, the chief minister told PML-F lawmaker Nusrat Saher Abbasi.
While billions of rupees are being spent on relief and rehabilitation works, the Sindh government has not devised a permanent formula to distribute the relief money among the affectees.
“There is no formula or criteria for district-wise distribution of amount allocated for the provincial Relief Department,” Shah said in reply to another question from Qureshi.
