Painting a picture: Relief camp in Ghotki turns out to be only a ‘show’ of flood survivors
Even though there were only low-level floods in Sindh that submerged only 20 per cent of the katcha area, these flood survivors were placed at the relief camp for officials to appreciate the preparations done for the floods that were expected to hit Sindh, after creating havoc in the Punjab.
On Saturday, Pakistan Peoples Party patron-in-chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari was visiting Qadirpur Loop Bund, which is the second line of defence against the rising river level.
The young politician was greeted by former chief minister Ali Muhammad Mahar, who presented a tradition Sindhi topi and an Ajrak to him. Bilawal, who was accompanied by Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, opposition leader Khursheed Shah and others, then distributed bags of ration among the residents posing as flood survivors. He was also given a briefing on the water levels by Guddu Barrage chief engineer Dhano Mal.
An official present on the site claimed, however, that the relief camp was wrapped up soon after the officials departed. Only 366,000 cusecs of water had entered Sindh at Guddu Barrage and it had only managed to submerge 20 per cent of the katcha area between Guddu and Sukkur barrages, said an official.
The opposition leader in the Sindh Assembly, Shaheryar Mahar, claimed VIP movements are nothing more than a ‘drama’. “The Sindh government has released Rs10 billion as emergency fund for the repair and maintenance of bunds,” he told The Express Tribune. “All these relief efforts and the visits are being carried out to justify the funds.”
Mahar felt that the irrigation department already receives up to Rs12 billion for the repair and maintenance of bunds.”What was the need of allocating an emergency fund?” he asked. He said that the clearance of silt on the off-shoots of River Indus has not been done for the last many years due to which capacity of these distributaries has reduced by 50 per cent.
The Salinity Control and Reclamation Project, which is responsible for controlling the water table, appears dysfunctional for many years, due to which water table is on a constant rise, Mahar added.
Better safe than sorry
Earlier, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah spoke to the media in Sukkur, where he explained why the government was so actively preparing for the floods. In 2010, irrigation experts had informed that 900,000 cusecs of water will enter Sindh but 1.25 million cusecs ended up coming to the province, he said. This year, we were expecting 800,000 cusecs so we made all arrangements to cope with a high-level flood, he added.
The Indus River System Authority is responsible for maintaining and repairing the bunds, but they are not doing it, Shah claimed, adding that the Sindh government is taking care of the bunds. The CM stated that some people have been affected in the katcha areas and the Sindh government will compensate their losses.
During his visit to Sukkur on Friday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had reprimanded the provincial irrigation authorities for misquoting the amount of water discharge in Sindh. “When a large volume of water was dispersed in the Punjab due to various breaches, then how can Sindh receive 900,000 cusecs?” he had asked. The Sindh officials informed him they were just being cautious.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 21st, 2014.
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