Sindh govt to seek army’s assistance in tackling flood crisis

Karachi
As water inflow at Guddu Barrage crossed 700,000 cusecs, Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah has directed the chief secretary to request the army for keeping troops on standby position to cope with any flood emergency situation.
The chief minister issued these directives on Saturday while chairing a meeting to review relief and rehabilitation efforts being done by the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) over possible flooding situation in Sindh.
Chief Secretary Siddique Memon informed the CM that flow of water at Guddu Barrage was recorded at 722,800 cusecs at upstream and 719,000 cusecs at downstream. At Sukkur barrage, the water flow at upstream was 584,800 cusecs while 569,200 cusecs at downstream.
He said that as per tradition, the army’s support was sought by the government when flow of water at barrages crossed 700,000 cusecs.
On this Qaim directed the chief secretary to contact the army for keeping the personnel on standby position.
A formal request in this regard would be sent by Sindh government to the army.
Director-General PDMA Syed Salman Shah said that some 260,331 affected people in 1,260 villages of 82 different union councils in Sindh had been evacuated to safer places due to evolving flood situation in embankment areas. In addition to this, the authority had established 260 relief camps providing temporary residential facilities to 35,010 affected people. Some 77,313 cattle had also been evacuated to safer locations.
The PDMA chief said that we had provided 14,700 ration bags, 17,600 tents, 29 boats, 63 de-watering pumps, 400 solar-powered lamps, 2000 jerry cans, 4,500 family water filters, 4,000 mats, 8,400 mosquito nets, and 20 water storage tanks to the affected people.
Other necessary articles made available by the PDMA included 2,021 life jackets, 45 search lights, 10 rubber boats, many fibre glass boats, and other such equipment to army engineers of Corps-V.

Inquiry ordered
Meanwhile, keeping in view reports of alleged corruption in Sindh government’s Irrigation Department to the tune of Rs 50 billion in last seven years, the chief minister has ordered an inquiry into the matter on an immediate basis.
The orders of inquiry have been issued to Chairman Enquires and Anti-Corruption Establishment Syed Mumtaz Ali, who had met the chief minister.
The chief minister directed him to furnish an initial report into the matter within next 15 days.
The chief minister said the allegations of corruption in the irrigation department were quite a serious issue, which could not be ignored at all.
Later, Qaim also had an aerial view of the Guddu Barrage and viewed the river flow situation there.

Navy relief operation
The Pakistan Navy rescue teams evacuated 2275 more flood affectees during its relief operation, “Madad” - in different parts of the Sindh province.
In a statement, it said that the emergency response teams of the Pakistan Navy and the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency carried out evacuation in Goth Abdul Rehman, Unar, Jappar, Mangnejo, Baradi Khan Jatoi, Manglo, Jalbani, Noor Ilahi Haji, Allah Bakhsh, Jumma Khan, Junejo Dost Muhammad, Mangnejo Taj, Muhammad Mehrab Khan, Jatoi Umeed Ali, Channa Ali, Bakhsh Janwari and others of Khairpur district in the last 24 hours.