Ahsan slams PTI govt for neglecting flood programme

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Planning Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal on Monday condemned the PTI’s previous government for not spend a single penny during the past four years on the National Flood Protection Programme (NFPP), which was approved by the Council of Common Interest (CCI) in 2017 for developing an integrated flood management system, and as a result the country is facing worst calamity.

While speaking at an event, “An overview and findings of the Rural Poor Stimulus Facility — Waseel-e-Khurak” was organised by the Scaling-Up Nutrition (SUN) in collaboration with the Ministry of Planning Development and Special Initiatives, the minister said the National Flood Protection Programme (NFPP) was initiated to develop an integrated flood management system by focusing on reservoir operations, flood forecasting and prior warning, flood risk zoning and watershed management with budgeting of Rs177 billion for first five years.

However, not a single penny was spent by the PTI’s previous government during the past four years resulted the country to face worst calamity, Ahsan Iqbal remarked. “The current flood situation could have been different if some work had been done, highlighting the fresh challenges that needed to be addressed immediately.

The federal minister further added that the recent flood has not only claimed human lives but it has also damaged infrastructure at a huge scale, may certainly pose challenges for the food insecurity in the time to come. “It is time to scale up the pilot initiatives, especially the food bank model to curb the food insecurity at large to sustain against the current indicators of nutrition,” he said.

Ahsan Iqbal said ‘Vision 2025’ was a step towards enhancing the nutrition indicators of mother and child, many key initiatives have been taken so far i.e joining of Global Scaling-Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement in 2013, which advocates for the right to nutritious food to all.

He also directed the concerned stakeholders to immediately initiate rehabilitation work particularly in education, health and infrastructure sectors, which have badly been affected during the recent flood.