Fruits of poor governance
Leaving behind a trail of destruction in AJK and Punjab, the flooded rivers have joined the mighty Indus now. Sindh which had a week to take action seems ill prepared though. There are still lapses in the relief work. By Friday two million people living in the riverine area were yet to be evacuated. PDMA hadn’t yet acquired the needed number of tents. Administrations in fifteen districts along the Indus had therefore to set up relief camps in schools and colleges, bringing to a halt the teaching activity. The provincial bureaucracy is, however, confident of dealing with the emergency.
The floods have once again exposed the working of the PMLN administration. During the last fourteen months of its tenure the government simply ignored the flood control and disaster management bodies like the Federal Flood Commission (FFC) and National Disaster Management Commission (NDMC). It was partly due to Adhocism that characterises the PML-N governance and partly due to its misconceived priorities. The water and power ministry does not have a full time minister. The FFC is run by a chairman who is simultaneously the CEO of alternate energy development board. The prime minister who visits Lahore almost every week had no time to call even a single meeting of the NDMC. As a result a 10-year plan formulated at the last NDMC meeting in 2012 aimed at improving the country’s capacity to cope with future disasters in the wake of the 2010-2011 floods could not be ratified .
The government’s much touted Vision 2025 fails to take note of the implications of the climate change for the country. The changing pattern of rain cycles is responsible to a great extent for the frequently recurring super floods. The comprehensive National Climate Change Policy (NCCP) that was launched by the PPP government in February 2013 was shelved by the PML-N administration and the ministry of climate change demoted to a division. The national action plan to implement the NCCP in consultation with all the provinces and regions was never initiated in earnest.