Sindh announces compensation for 21 victims of Sehwan road accident

The Sindh government has announced one million rupees in compensation the heirs of each of the 21 persons who lost their lives in a tragic accident on the Indus Highway near Sehwan on Thursday night.

The announcement was made by Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, as he along with former chief minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah met and condoled with the bereaved families, who lost their near and dear ones in the road tragedy. PPP MNA Dr Nifsa Shah was also present on the occasion.

The local government minister appreciated the fact that Federal Communications Minister Maulana Asad Mahmood had promptly taken cognisance of the Sehwan tragedy, ordered an inquiry, and suspended some of the responsible officials.

He said CM Murad Ali Shah had also intimated to him that an inquiry would be conducted to determine the causes of the accident and action would be taken against officials who showed negligence in this incident. He, however, mentioned that the fatal accident occurred on the Indus Highway, which came under the federal domain as primarily the National Highway Authority and Motorway Police were responsible for any mishap on the main inter-city highway.

Shah, however, assured the media persons that action would be taken against the relevant officials of the provincial administration who had reportedly shown negligence after the tragedy had occurred and didn’t promptly help out the victims.

He said the Sindh government several years back had paid Rs7 seven billion to the federal authorities for proper dualisation of the Indus Highway near Sehwan after several fatal traffic accidents on this portion of the road. He said the Sindh government had paid this amount despite the fact that the federal government was under the obligation to bear all the expenses of the expansion of the deadly portion of the Indus Highway.

He said the dualisation work should have been completed, but the project remained unfinished as an incompetent government had been in power in the country in the past three-and-half-years. He said the persons injured in the Sehwan road tragedy would be given the best health treatment facilities.

To a question, the local government minister said the road accident occurred in Sehwan, which was part of Hyderabad Division whose several portions had been affected due to floodwaters.

He said the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had also acknowledged that several rural parts of Hyderabad Division were calamity-affected with damaged civic infrastructure, and the local government elections couldn’t be held there immediately.