Proposal to set up colony for survivors snubbed

The proposal has been rejected by the city government on the grounds that the floods might hit that area as well.

KARACHI: A proposal by a renowned businessman of Karachi to establish a colony for 100,000 flood survivors near Gharo has been rejected by the city government on the grounds that the floods might hit that area as well.

Sources told Daily Express that the businessman, who owns thousands of acres of land near Gharo was prepared to allow 300 acres to be converted into a colony, where flood survivors would have been provided with food and other basic necessities.

It was also planned to help survivors earn a respectable livelihood by providing them with cultivable land near the colony, where they could grow vegetables and fruits for a payment. A master plan was prepared and handed over to the city government for the colony. Besides, overseas Pakistanis had also expressed their interest in the project. The land was also surveyed by city government officials and the government was not supposed to spend a penny on the project.

However, a highly-placed officer of the city government’s revenue department opposed the idea saying that the area where the colony would be set up might be hit by floods.

The sources said that the actual cause behind the rejection of the proposal is the project could have jeopardised the Rs180 million that the city government’s revenue department has received from the provincial government for the relief efforts.

Saylani Welfare Trust quits

The Saylani Welfare Trust, that has been providing flood survivors two free meals a day, is going to stop in protest against the authorities.

It will not supply the meals from today at the Gulshan-e-Maymar camp. It supplies 10,000 people a day.

Now these people will have to be fed by the city government’s revenue department, that has been given a large budget for relief work.

Saylani’s Madani Raza told Daily Express that complaints of mismanagement, a waste of food and stealing had gone up at the Gulshan-e-Maymar camp, which made their working difficult.

“Someone is trying to sabotage our work,” he said.

After two days, people will be leaving the Sukkur camps and the trust will stop giving food to 5,000 people there as well.

He claimed they were feeding 43,300 flood survivors across Sindh.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 18^th, 2010.