‘Sindh govt left rain-hit people in the lurch’

Sheikh hits back at Bilawal’s criticism of Centre for ‘forsaking Sindh’s citizens’

HYDERABAD:

Blaming the Sindh government for failing to respond to the disaster triggered by torrential rains in the province, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf parliamentary leader in the Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh accused it of leaving rain-affected citizens in the lurch.

Speaking at a press conference in Mirpurkhas district, Sheikh hit back at Pakistan Peoples Party chairperson Bilawal Bhutto Zardari who, during his visit to rain-affected areas, chastised the Centre for forsaking Sindh's people.

"Bilawal spent tens of millions of rupees from public funds only to heap scorn at the federal government during his visit," said Sheikh. "Instead, he should have distributed relief aid." He added that the PPP-led Sindh government always blamed the Centre to cover up its own incapacity.

"Bilawal is mistaken to say the displaced people do not just need rations as part of the federal relief package. He doesn't even know that they are finding it hard to have even two meals a day," he went on to say, adding that 100,000 ration bags had been distributed by the governors of Sindh and Punjab while the National Disaster Management Authority had been providing tents to those displaced by flooding.

He further the Mirpurkhas district administration for sabotaging President Arif Alvi's relief distribution efforts by letting the crowd loot trucks carrying relief goods.

Sheikh contended that due to corruption in the Sindh Irrigation Department, saline water channels could not be properly maintained and had flooded scores of villages. "The rain did not do as much damage as these waterways did," he asserted, demanding an audit of the funds utilised by the irrigation department as well as a probe into irrigation officials' assets.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 15^th, 2020.