‘Flood aid not fully utilised’

A legal activist of Tharparkar Advocate Chander Mantharani, has accused the district administration of failing to provide required relief to the rain and flood affected people last year even though they had surplus funds and relief items.

The lawyer with the help of the Sindh Information Commission has obtained details of items and funds received and utilised by the administration.

As per the documents, Mantharani said, Tharparkar district hosted around 20,000 flood displaced people who were accommodated in the shelters established in Mithi and Kaloi talukas.

An estimated 17,000 of the flood-hit people belonged to Badin, Umerkot and Mirpurkhas districts, which border Tharparkar. Some nine Dehs of Kaloi were also affected because of flooding in the Left Bank Outfall Drain (LBOD), Mantharani said quoting the documents.

Apart from donations from welfare organisations and international NGOs, the provincial government alone released Rs30 million to Tharparkar deputy commissioner for the rescue and relief operations and Rs50 million for ration and transportation, Manthrani said.

As per official documents, the district administration spent Rs25.357 million for rescue and relief operations and Rs17.263 million for ration and transportation of flood victims. A sum of Rs37.38 million was saved.

Tharparkar DC Hafeez Ahmed Siyal on February 8 wrote a letter to the Sindh Secretary Services General Administration and Coordination Department seeking guidance for surrendering the balance.

A separate sum of Rs2.5 million was also released to the DC to conduct the survey of the affected people. He, however, saved Rs910,000 from that sum, spending Rs1.589 million on the survey.

The administration received 11,750 ration bags, 2,995 tents, 3,000 tarpaulin, 24,500 mosquito nets and 5,000 blankets, among other items. It ended up saving 176 tents, 1,276 tarpaulin, 2,072 nets and 4,010 blankets.

The authorities spent Rs11.142 million on supply of cooked food, Rs16.425 million on ration bags, Rs3.421 million on supply of fuel, Rs2.364 million on excavator machines, Rs2.305 million on transportation and over Rs1 million on heavy machinery.

The lawyer claimed while talking to The Express Tribune that he unearthed discrepancies in the reports of the district administration and Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA). “I used to check the reports which the PDMA used to update on its website on a daily basis. Now after getting the report about the district administration [through the information commission] spent funds and distributed relief items, I can certainly say that there are discrepancies.” He said that he would take up the issue before the court.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 12^th, 2023.