Monsoon calling

During the recent monsoon onslaught, telling visuals of deluged localities in Lahore were on display in the print and electronic media. One heavy spell of rain was enough to completely mar the face of the city that had been lifted over time through a network of expanded carpeted roads, flyovers and underpasses. One of the worst affected sites was that of Lakshmi Chowk, just next to Royal Park, which once served as a hangout for our poets, scriptwriters and those who have penned some beautiful film songs of yore. Saadat Hassan Manto, A Hamid, Sahir, Munir Niazi, Qateel Shifai and Ibn-i-Insha, in their early years, could all be spotted in this area. Just imagine what affect such spells of monsoon that we now regularly witness would have had on their poetic sensibilities!

These tormenting monsoon spells virtually paralysed urban life, with power outages compounding problems further. They also acted as great levelers, affecting both posh and rundown localities with the same fury and intensity. However, with the advent of flash floods, rural folk were far more badly hit, causing havoc in terms of loss of human lives, livestock, crops and entire habitats. Cities were saved by breaching protective embankments, forcing the rural populace to render a great sacrifice as their lives were shattered, creating a further wedge between the haves and have-nots.

The torrential rains in the cities — especially in Lahore — exposed the worn out and highly inadequate sewerage system as the main culprit, like in all previous years. It is a moot point whether augmentation of underground sewers could fix this recurring problem or whether we need a better solution to this conundrum. The answer may well lie in establishing a network of surface rain-water channels along the roads, a practice that was abandoned a long time ago.

The devastating floods, after leaving their deep scars in Punjab, especially in the southern parts, are now wading through the expanses of Sindh, with the mighty Indus seemingly set to topple weak and neglected protective banks, submerging huge swathes of land and cropped area. If this happens, the losses are going to be colossal, with a spillover affect on the trade and manufacturing sectors as sources of raw material suffer heavy damage.

All this suffering needs to be viewed through the spectrum of our managerial foresight and response to the catastrophe, which keeps recurring along predictable patterns. We have not learnt anything from the devastating floods of 2010. Despite the publication of reports, which threw up a slew of recommendatory measures, no noteworthy steps were taken to augment protective measures and revamp our lifeline — our barrages — gifted to us by the British and the Indus water treaty.

The major fault, in this regard, lies with the road-centric development model that is currently being followed. While the importance of roads cannot be emphasised enough, we have to look at the opportunity cost of focusing development efforts mainly on them, especially given the level of our resources. This tendency points towards our skewed development priorities. As if this was not enough, the financial and development year is started in the name of equitable allocations to less developed regions, while during the course of the year, funds allocated for them are diverted and re-appropriated towards the pet projects of those who rule us. With poor parliamentary oversight, this practice goes on unabated.

During the last PPP government, funds in the road sector, for instance, were disproportionately diverted towards Larkana, Nawabshah and Multan to the disadvantage of strategically important projects like the Lowari tunnel, which was aimed at providing all-weather connectivity between Chitral and the rest of the country. In view of such allocative distortions, the project is in doldrums, resulting in hold-ups and litigation. In mature societies that have strong institutions, any big-ticket expense is contingent upon the complete identification of the source of funding and close parliamentary oversight. This seems to be an alien concept here. At the moment, we may be acquiring funds with ease through external credit lines, but they are going to mortgage the future of our yet to be born children unless these funds are invested in projects that give us greater returns than they currently do.

Flood management is a provincial domain. The provincial chief executive calls the shots in this regard through the provincial relief commissioner, who heads a set-up that has a hierarchy going down to the village level. In the aftermath of the 2005 earthquake, the federal government created a top-heavy body in the form of the National Disaster Management Authority headed by the prime minister. This body has not held a meeting since February 2012, with two flood cycles having passed since then. After the passage of the Eighteenth Amendment, it is a moot point whether we even need such a body or not. It should ideally be replaced by a lean cell, working for collation and coordination at the federal level.

The water sector in general, and the upkeep of our barrages in particular, has suffered from perennial neglect. Official documents do mention plans for rehabilitation and revamping of Trimmu, Panjnad and Sulemanki barrages, but they are only referred as “unapproved” schemes in these papers. This speaks volumes for the commitment that officials have towards this crucial sector.

Pakistan needs to focus on increasing and conserving its water storage capacity, which is already down by 30 per cent. A feasible site for building a reservoir is on River Chenab near Chiniot. A feasibility study in this regard was prepared during the last decade, which is pending further action. The site offers storage capacity of over a million acre feet and a potential of producing 60MW of electricity besides augmenting irrigation water. Are we ready to commit to such much-needed projects? This crucial question needs an immediate answer.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 23^rd, 2014.

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