Bureaucrats under fire in Sindh Assembly

KARACHI:

Legislators in the Sindh Assembly on Tuesday strongly criticised the Deputy Commissioners for ignoring flood victims and siphoning money meant for their rehabilitation.

Opposition MPAs from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) questioned the performance of Deputy Commissioners who, according to them, neglected most of the victims in relief activities.

"The Chief Minister gave us a good presentation yesterday (on Monday) with facts and figures, but there was no proper mechanism to oversee the DCs. All the efforts have been wasted due to the hurdles created by these bureaucrats," MQM MPA Mangla Sharma said while adding that mismanagement led to protests in different districts of the province.

"Now, we have heard that the government is going to build houses [for flood victims]. We hope this process kicks off purely on merit and houses are flood resilient," she said and appreciated Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari for highlighting the issue at international forums which resulted in a visit to Sindh by the UN Secretary General.

Shaharyar Mahar of the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA), in his fiery speech, drew the house's attention towards billions of rupees released to each Deputy Commissioner and said, "Flood victims were left at the mercy of DCs. Each district was given around Rs.2 billion with no proper accountability."

He was of the view that the Sindh government could not be held responsible for the flood calamity, but people asked why it had failed to save the province from the deluge.

"There was no proper contingency plan at the district level to deal with the disaster," he lamented.

MPA Mahar, who belongs to Shikarpur district, referred to the CM speech in which he claimed that 86,000 tents were available with the government.

"If tents were available, then why were people living under the open sky facing the vagaries of weather," he asked.

PTI MPA Arsalan Taj Hussain, while quoting the weather prediction, said, "The Met Office had predicted heavy monsoon rains and floods, but incompetency of the government landed Sindh into catastrophic situation."

According to him, the government's main motive has always been to loot and plunder public resources.

"Look at the Covid-19 funds. They have embezzled billions of rupees in the name of mitigating Covid outbreak," he alleged.

He criticized the provincial government for "political victimization" of opposition parties and said, "If any opposition leader exposes corruption and talks about it, an FIR is registered against him."

Sharmila Farooqi of the PPP, however, sought to defend her government's initiatives and called it unprecedented rains that triggered floods. "The entire Sindh presented the look of an ocean. In many areas there was no place to peg a tent. Despite limited resources the Sindh government has done a marvelous job in relief," she said.

Shehla Raza, Sindh Minister for Women Development, Nasir Qureshi of MQM, Rafique Banbhan of GDA and Nida Khuhro of the PPP also spoke on the occasion.

During the session, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and Excise and Taxation Mukesh Kumar Chawala moved a motion requesting the Speaker to extend the debate on floods by another day.

"Around 25 MPAs have spoken on it and many others also want to share their thoughts. So, we will appreciate it if you kindly extend the debate by one more day," he said.

On his request, the Speaker extended allowed the members to continue the debate on Wednesday.

Absentee lawmakers

Before adjourning the session, Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani expressed serious concern over thin attendance in the session and said that many MPAs either did not attend the session or had moved leave applications.

"Every day, when I ask if there is any leave application, I am told that there is none. But the house remains empty," he said, adding that if this attitude continues, then he will take action.

"Please let me know if you are not willing to attend the session. Time and again I warn the absentees who can lose their seat," he warned the lawmakers.

"If you continuously remain absent, I will prepare the report and send to the Election Commission mentioning that the members are non-serious and not interested in attending the session, so take the legal action against them."