CM cancels relevant officials’ leave in view of rain emergency

Sindh’s chief minister has ordered the cancellation of leave of all the employees of the district administration, the police and the local bodies, and other essential staff, directing the chief secretary to set up a rain emergency cell at his office for the necessary coordination.

Syed Murad Ali Shah took these decisions on Wednesday during a meeting that he chaired at the CM House to discuss the rain emergency and review the monsoon preparations.

Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) Director General Salman Shah told the meeting that the Pakistan Meteorological Department had issued Outlook for Monsoon 2021 (July to September), under which rainfall was expected to remain near to normal. He said the area’s weighted normal rainfall of Pakistan between July and September was 140.8mm.

The meeting was told that the impact of flash flooding in the hill torrents of Sindh could not be ruled out, as due to extreme hydro-meteorological events over catchments, riverine floods might occur in Sindh.

It was pointed out that above normal temperatures in high altitudes were likely to increase the rate of snowmelt in the northern areas, subsequently increasing the chances of base flow in the upper Indus basin.

According to the Met Office, monsoon currents continue to penetrate into eastern Sindh, and under their influence rain, wind and thunderstorms with a few moderate to heavy falls at times are likely to occur in all the districts of lower Sindh until Friday, and of central and upper Sindh until Saturday.

The persistent rain and showers may create waterlogging in the low-lying areas of the Karachi, Hyderabad, Badin, Thatta, Sukkur, Larkana, Dadu and Nawabshah districts during this period.

Sindh Rehabilitation Minister Faraz Dero told the CM that the PDMA had started pre-monsoon preparations in February by forwarding monsoon contingency planning guidelines. He said the Provincial Emergency Operations Centre has been activated to monitor the situation 24/7.

He added that the relief and rescue stock has been prepositioned at the Sukkur, Jamshoro and Karachi warehouses, while a sufficient number of dewatering pumps have been placed at the disposal of the district disaster management authorities.

The meeting was told that the training of 37 master trainers from the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC), the Karachi Water & Sewerage Board (KWSB), the South, West and Malir district municipal corporations (DMCs), and the District Council Karachi for handling the dewatering pumps has been completed. The meeting was also told that the training of the remaining 12 master trainers from the Central, Keamari and East DMCs is being carried out, while the armed forces have also been provided with the adequate equipment to assist the district disaster management authorities during emergencies.

Karachi Commissioner Naveed Shaikh, KMC Administrator Laeeq Ahmed, KWSB Managing Director Asadullah Khan and Sindh Solid Waste Management Board MD Zubair Channa briefed the CM about the measures taken by their respective organisations to deal with the monsoon situation.

The CM was told that 43 storm water drains of the KMC and 514 of the DMCs have been de-silted so that rainwater can flow down to the sea smoothly. He was told that all the drain choking points in the city have been identified and cleared, and that the major Mehmoodabad, Gujjar and Korangi nalas have been cleared, except for a few locations where the work is underway.