Inaccurate forecast: MPs raise questions over flood funds

Minister for Climate Change Rana Farooq Saeed says situation emerged due to wrong prediction of Met Office.

ISLAMABAD:

The Met office and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on Tuesday came under fire in the National Assembly for wrong flood predictions.

The movers of a Calling Attention Notice referred to the past failures of NDMA to meet the needs of flood victims and expressed doubts over funds allocated to the authority to meet any floods related emergencies, which did not occur this year.

Minister for Climate Change Rana Farooq Saeed said the situation emerged due to the wrong prediction of the Met Office. He said the federal government had allocated Rs5 billion for a federal emergency, while the K-P government had set aside Rs3 billion and Punjab and Sindh governments had earmarked Rs5 billion to meet any flood calamity for 2012. The members alleged the funds allocated for floods could be misused. Moreover, they added that if there were no floods, the allocated funds should be withdrawn from the NDMA.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 5^th, 2012.