Baring Karachi, Thar, entire Sindh declared calamity-hit

Only two dehs of Malir district included in official notification

HYDERABAD:

The Sindh government has declared entire Sindh excluding Karachi and Tharparkar as calamity-hit after the unprecedented monsoon showers took a heavy toll on the human lives, houses, crops, roads, bridges and livestock.

The Sindh Relief Commissioner Baqaullah Unar on Sunday notified that all the nine districts of Hyderabad division, five districts of Larkan division, three districts each of Sukkur and Nawabshah divisions as affected by disaster.

As per the notification, among the seven districts of Karachi, only two dehs of Malir are included in the list of calamity hit districts.

Two out of three districts of Mirpurkhas division are also included in the list. "... in the opinion of the government the situation warrants action under the provisions of the Sindh Natural Calamities (Prevention and Relief) Act, 1958," reads the notification.

Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah continued his visits to the rain-affected districts on Sunday, arriving in Matiari, Shaheed Benazirabad and Naushehro Feroze districts.

He told that the government would provide Rs25,000 to each affected family as financial support and that the amount would be released in the next two weeks.

He said the provincial government is overhauling the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) and similar measures will be taken for the Water and Sanitation Agency of Hyderabad.

Shah wondered how Hyderabad's drainage system with the capacity of only 30 millimeters can drain 200 mm rainwater. He pointed out that the city lacked gravity based drainage network owing to which the sewerage had to be pumped out with machines.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 22^nd, 2022.