‘Heirs of heatwave victims must be compensated’

Karachi
The leader of the opposition in the Sindh Assembly Khawaja Izhar-ul-Hassan on Tuesday held the federal and provincial governments, along with the K-Electric, responsible for the deaths of more than 1,200 people in the province during the prevailing heatwave and demanded from the Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah to announce compensation for the bereaved families.
He was talking to the media at the Sindh Assembly on Tuesday after a meeting Salman Shah, the director-general of Pakistan Disaster Management Authority (PDMA).
He said even the national disaster management authority had failed to play an effective role to save hundreds of people from dying.
He said the government seemed to be unaffected by the unusual event in history which had claimed so many lives.
Hassan criticised the government for claiming to set up 60 heatstroke centres, which he claimed were only a hoax. He also called out the civil defence and relief department, which he said was next to non-existent, since it was nowhere to be seen. He said it should be abolished or merged with the provincial disaster management authority.
He asked the prime minster to visit Karachi and become involved in the problem. To the Balochistan chief minister, Hassan, said he should focus on taking care of matters in his own province.