The Judicial Flood Inquiry Tribunal headed by Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah will reveal its sealed inquiry report on Monday and hand it over to the Punjab home secretary.
The 475-page report, A Rude Awakening, has 91 appendices spread over 30,594 pages. The tribunal started its inquiry on September 14, 2010 and concluded it in about eight months. The inquiry was initiated to sort whether some landlords, to save their crops, had deliberately inundated residential areas of the poor by making improper breaches in the bunds.
The area under inquiry was along River Indus, starting from Jinnah Barrage down to upstream Guddu Barrage and breaches that were required to be investigated including the Left Guide Bund (LGB) at Jinnah Barrage, Right Marginal Bund (RMB) at Taunsa Barrage, Jampur Bund and Fakhar Flood Bund in district Rajanpur.
According to a handout issued here on Sunday, the tribunal ensured the best possible public access to the flood affected so that they could conveniently reach the tribunal to record their statements.
For this purpose, public notices were issued in the national, local and regional newspapers outlining the tribunal’s itinerary in the districts. The witnesses were also allowed to record statements with the concerned civil judge. For the convenience of the affected people the district and sessions judges concerned were directed to nominate civil judges in every district to receive the complaints on behalf of the tribunal from the general public, the hand out said.
The tribunal held hearings in Mianwali, Muzaffargarh, DG Khan and Rajanpur and inspected the bunds, examining departmental representatives and granting hearings to the complainants.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 11th, 2011.
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