Regrettably, ineptness, inefficiency and organised corruption of our provincial irrigation department’s bureaucrats and technocrats who do not spend the allocated funds fairly and judiciously to raise and repair flood “bunds” (embankments), dykes and ditches, stone-pitching and alignment of the canals and water channels, have made my home province “Sindh” vulnerable to floods. This is why the apocalyptic floods have hit the upper and lower districts of Sindh province for the last two consecutive years and caused death and devastation everywhere in the province. Indeed, more than 8 million people were displaced by the floods in the affected districts and they are still passing their miserable days and nights in the torn out tents or along with the roads and high ways under the open skies. Still many areas are underwater in the affected areas.
Last week, I had the opportunity to visit various affected areas, in particular, the flood “bunds” (embankments) and dykes, shores of canals, water channels, with a two-member delegation of an international body, who wanted to diagnose the quality of work carried out by the relevant provincial departments; they also wanted to determine the level of rehabilitation and restoration of the past natural and man-made calamities in the province. Looking at the poor quality of what we call “run of the mill” construction of the embankments, dykes and canals, the learned members of the delegation expressed their utter displeasure and opined that this callousness and insensitivity of the concerned provincial authorities was painful.
From the facts available, it comes to the fore that the provincial bureaucrats and technocrats, in their lust for corruption, have not learnt from their past administrative and technical blunders which led to the inundation of Sindh and left millions homeless and their livestock killed. Thus, on the basis of this survey, one can logically conclude that the predicted flooding will prove once again disastrous in the upper and lower districts of Sindh province and cause colossal loss life and limb in the province.
However, the President of Pakistan is appealed to take serious notice of the apathy and insensitivity of the provincial authorities, especially, the corrupt irrigation engineers and the contractors who have carried out the poor quality construction work at various flood bunds (which can possibly burst even if the medium level of flood revisit) in the affected areas.
HASHIM ABRO
Islamabad
