PML-Q slams Sindh govt for ignoring flood warnings

Karachi
The Sindh government, marred by corruption and bad governance, is extremely ill-prepared to deal with the impending flood crisis due to heavy flow of water in River Indus and its tributaries, remarked Haleem Adil Sheikh.
Addressing an emergency press conference on Wednesday at the party secretariat, the president of Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid’s (PML-Q) Sindh chapter, said even though flood warnings were issued by the met office two weeks ago, the provincial government had failed to take any preventive measures.
He said credible world institutions had already warned of rapid melting glaciers due to global warming but the federal and provincial governments seemed oblivious to it.
Sheikh said half of Chitral has been inundated but neither has the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa chief minister visited the area or the provincial government has sent rescue helicopters.
He said the curse of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has already reached the area which had been without electricity for the past week. He said only the Pakistan Army has been carrying rescue and relief work in the area.
Similarly, he said, the Sindh government had neglected the pre-flood warnings and the bureaucracy continued to report that all was well.
However, he said, if flash floods came down from the Koh-e-Suleman mountain range and added to the present floodwater in the Indus River, it would constitute a dangerous situation for the province.
He said the irrigation department was also not taking any preventive steps while the funds of Rs100million for the contingency plan are present only on paper, while an additional Rs56billion meant for the repair of embankments and canals have been embezzled.
According to Sheikh, the Tori embankment, KK embankment, Sheink embankment and Aqil-Agani embankment were too weak to withstand heavy flow of water.
According to the PML-Q leader, floodwater had already entered more than 100 villages in the kutcha areas of Ghotki district after ravaging Layyah, Dera Ghazi Khan, Rajanpur, Muzzafargarh and other districts.
He demanded of the government to show seriousness and take emergency based steps to save the people of Sindh from the losses of anticipated heavy monsoon rains and floods.
Talking about the provincial disaster management authority (PDMA), he said the agency was only concerned with buying new helicopters to earn commission and kickbacks while the Sindh relief department had no ability to serve the people in times of emergencies.
He said the PDMA had yet to summon a meeting of the main departments and earmark places for setting up relief camps. He suggested making district administrations independent to be able to deal with the crisis.