Flood inquiry: No action yet against negligent officials

Engineers blamed for disastrous breaches remain in key posts.

LAHORE:

The Punjab government is yet to start disciplinary proceedings against 20 Irrigation Department officials that a judicial commission found had neglected their job of strengthening the province’s flood defences.

The officials were held responsible for breaches in the Taunsa and Jinnah Barrages that led to the inundation of vast tracts of land in the province, and the commission had recommended that they be charged with inefficiency and misconduct under the Punjab Employees Efficiency, Discipline and Accountability (PEEDA) Act, 2006.

The floods caused major devastation in the southern parts of the province, affecting 6.2 million people, destroying 1.712 million acres of crops and 500,000 houses, and killing 110.

“Not a single official has been made an OSD [officer on special duty] or been suspended for this,” an official told The Express Tribune on the condition of anonymity. Three of them are senior officials who had retired and then been rehired to the department on contract, he said.

The tribunal held 16 officials responsible for the Taunsa Barrage breach: Ghulam Hussain Qadri, head of partially manually operated barrages; Rafique Ahmed, chief engineer for drainage and floods; chief engineer Muhammad Amin; executive engineers Mehr Muhammad Amin, Malik Shujat Ali (BS-19), Abid Rashid and Rao Muhammad Riaz Ahmad; as well as three sub divisional officers and six sub engineers.

They had violated regulations, had mismanaged the barrage and had failed to make a concerted effort to remove bunds built by landlords to protect their land.

The tribunal observed that “the encroachment on the embankments and the repairs identified by the report of a departmental pre-flood inspection committee were never attended to.

It was the responsibility of the chief engineer for drainage and floods to ensure compliance with the pre-flood inspection report, but he and his team did not bother to do so.”

It said that their negligence had led to the inundation of Muzaffargarh, Dera Ghazi Khan, Rajanpur and Rahim Yar Khan and the destruction of crops, livestock and roads and other infrastructure.

The tribunal blamed then Kalabagh circle superintending engineer Khalid Iqbal, former Thal Canal superintending engineer Shafqat Hussain Bhatti, executive engineer Ghulam Rasool and sub divisional officer Nawazish Khan for the Jinnah Barrage breach.

“These officials did not realise the gravity of the situation and the gates on the right side were kept closed for two weeks. Resultantly, flood water breached the embankments and caused huge losses in Mianwali,” said the tribunal’s report.

Of the 20 officials, 15 still remain in important posts in the Irrigation Department.

A senior Irrigation Department official said the department had sent a summary to the chief minister seeking his approval for starting disciplinary proceedings under the PEEDA Act.

“The inquiry can’t start without his approval,” he said. He added that there had been a delay in sending the summary to the chief minister because of certain formalities.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 23^rd, 2011.