Get your act together: Govt’s decision to evict refugees of 2010 floods irks SHC
The authorities have failed to rehabilitate victims of previous disaster as another looms ahead.
KARACHI:
Despite the impending threat of floods, the provincial government has failed to rehabilitate thousands of the families that were displaced by the 'super flood' of 2010 that destroyed their homes and livelihood.
Instead the authorities are attempting to evict a number of the families who were provided shelter in government flats in Karachi.
This decision earned government functionaries the Sindh High Court's ire on Tuesday, which has summoned the provincial chief secretary personally and has asked for a comprehensive report containing the records of the rehabilitation efforts made in the past three years.
Chief Justice Maqbool Baqar, who headed the bench, passed this order while hearing a petition filed by the Flood Relief Committee, a body representing the families sheltered in the flats of the Labour department in Gulshan-e-Maymar. The committee had gone to court against the government authorities' eviction attempt.
The committee's representatives informed the judges that thousands of victims whose houses were destroyed by the flood were residing in the flats and had started a new life. They said that the Labour department had recently published a public notice asking the occupants to leave the temporary shelters.
"On one hand, the authorities have failed to rehabilitate them and on the other, they are asking the families to leave," the petitioners complained. The court was pleaded to order the officials to rehabilitate the families before evicting them from the government flats.
The attitude of the authorities concerned towards the affected families irked the judges. "To say the least, the performance of government functionaries in this case, like in any other matter, is pathetic," said the judges.
Chief Justice Baqar observed that it seems that the government functionaries have absolutely no inkling regarding the matter. "We are faced with a very grave situation, as even elementary queries are not answered by respondents and those representing them," he said. The judges ordered that a copy of this order should be sent to the heads of the relevant departments and the chief secretary so that appropriate details and comprehensive replies, along with photocopies of all the relevant material, is placed before the court within a week. The judges also demanded that authorities take corrective measures to mitigate the situation so that the people of the province do not suffer gravely at the hands of government functionaries.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 10th, 2014.
Despite the impending threat of floods, the provincial government has failed to rehabilitate thousands of the families that were displaced by the 'super flood' of 2010 that destroyed their homes and livelihood.
Instead the authorities are attempting to evict a number of the families who were provided shelter in government flats in Karachi.
This decision earned government functionaries the Sindh High Court's ire on Tuesday, which has summoned the provincial chief secretary personally and has asked for a comprehensive report containing the records of the rehabilitation efforts made in the past three years.
Chief Justice Maqbool Baqar, who headed the bench, passed this order while hearing a petition filed by the Flood Relief Committee, a body representing the families sheltered in the flats of the Labour department in Gulshan-e-Maymar. The committee had gone to court against the government authorities' eviction attempt.
The committee's representatives informed the judges that thousands of victims whose houses were destroyed by the flood were residing in the flats and had started a new life. They said that the Labour department had recently published a public notice asking the occupants to leave the temporary shelters.
"On one hand, the authorities have failed to rehabilitate them and on the other, they are asking the families to leave," the petitioners complained. The court was pleaded to order the officials to rehabilitate the families before evicting them from the government flats.
The attitude of the authorities concerned towards the affected families irked the judges. "To say the least, the performance of government functionaries in this case, like in any other matter, is pathetic," said the judges.
Chief Justice Baqar observed that it seems that the government functionaries have absolutely no inkling regarding the matter. "We are faced with a very grave situation, as even elementary queries are not answered by respondents and those representing them," he said. The judges ordered that a copy of this order should be sent to the heads of the relevant departments and the chief secretary so that appropriate details and comprehensive replies, along with photocopies of all the relevant material, is placed before the court within a week. The judges also demanded that authorities take corrective measures to mitigate the situation so that the people of the province do not suffer gravely at the hands of government functionaries.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 10th, 2014.