Is govt ready for next monsoon?

The lawmakers of Sindh Assembly on Monday demanded of the government to restore the natural waterways of Indus River to release the flood water and prevent devastation in future.

Debating on the adjournment motion, moved by PPP MPA Sharmila Faruqui, they questioned the performance of the Sindh government to deal with the coming monsoon and strengthening the dykes of dams.

"The entire Sindh suffered due to the flood devastation that rendered thousands of people homeless with millions of acres of crops washed away. It seems the provincial government has not learnt the lesson from the past calamities as it looks non-serious to redress the climate change issues," said MMA MPA Abdul Rashid.

"The influential people have encroached on the waterways by constructing buildings, setting up villages, agriculture and cattle farms etc. The rains will cause floods again if the water does not find its natural way," he lamented.

Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) MPA Rashid Khilji was of the view that climate change has not been the priority of the Sindh government.

"Huge budget is earmarked to deal with climate change issues in Europe and America, but we have not realized the gravity of the situation," he said adding that developed countries are responsible for around 80 per cent carbon emissions and poor countries like Pakistan contributes a negligible 0.8 per cent of the global carbon footprint.

"The carbon dioxide level continues to climb from most industrialised countries fueling further temperature increases in the world. They should be held responsible for it," he said.

Sharmila Faruqui, the mover of the motion, was of the view that the federal and Sindh government must take the preventive measures to deal with climate change, otherwise "we will lose many precious lives and suffer huge economic loss in coming days."

She added that there was a dire need to restore the ecosystem of River Indus. "The faulty design of a project like RBOD also played havoc. The Sindh government should mount pressure on the federal government to revisit and complete the projects as per its original plan, otherwise it will bring another disaster," she said adding that the provincial government should start the drive to provide incentive to those flood victims and educate them how to jointly deal with such calamities in future.

Irrigation Minister Jam Khan Shoro went on to say that the great danger dangles over Sindh where Indus River brings water from all the rivers in the country before disposing it into the Arabian Sea. "We have to build flood resilient houses," he said.

Earlier, as the session started with Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani in the chair, the members offered Fateha for the departed soul of Imran Atta Soomro, secretary works and services who passed away on Sunday due to cardiac arrest. During the session, Arif Mustafa Jatoi moving his call attention notice drew the house attention toward the low price of wheat and said that growers were not given support price rate as it was announced by the government. "Some mafias are procuring wheat that will lead to crises in future. What action is taken?" he questioned.

Parliamentary Minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla dismissed Jatoi's claim and said, "For the first time, the growers have gotten a huge price Rs4,000 per 40kg," he said adding that the Sindh government would meet its procurement target. "We will start the crackdown against hoarders," Chawla said.

Later, the house was adjourned till Tuesday (today).

Published in The Express Tribune, May 16^th, 2023.