KARACHI: Slack irrigation officials and a decade of embezzled funds are to blame, concluded a judicial commission formed to investigate a breach in the Tori Bund during the floods.
The two-member commission consists of Justice (retired) Zahid Qurban Alvi and Justice (retired) Ghulam Nabi Soomro. Their inquiry took nine weeks to complete. They prepared their report and submitted it to Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah on Wednesday.
Justice Alvi told the media that the commission had recorded statements from different sections of society, including journalists, lawyers and political activists, and it would be premature to disclose their findings. “We have submitted the report to the CM and now it is up to the government to unveil it,” he said. The Tori Bund breach was one of the major breaches that wreaked enormous damage to the Sukkur region over the summer.
According to officials who did not want to be named, the commission has held officers of the irrigation department responsible for not plugging the breaches in time. All the allegations about influential people deliberately breaching the bund to protect their lands were baseless, officials said, referring to the report.
According to sources, the report says that no work was done to strengthen the embankments since 1997, even though a hefty amount of money was allocated for the job. The commission has recommended that action should be taken against irrigation officials and other government functionaries involved in the misappropriation of this budget.
Water experts and environmentalists have also weighed in. “The massive deforestation on either side of the Indus River is also said to be one of the reasons for the devastation caused by the flood,” sources said, quoting the report.
The commission was formed after the government was severely criticised over the breach. Initially, two retired judges were nominated to investigate the matter, but both judges withdrew. Later, the names of Justice Alvi and Justice Soomro were suggested with the consensus of the joint opposition and coalition partners of the Sindh government.
As soon as the commission started working, some political leaders, including Mumtaz Bhutto of the Sindh National Front, Shah Muhammad Shah of Save Sindh Movement and Jalal Mehmood Shah of the Sindh United Party, filed a petition in the Sindh High Court.
Sindh law minister Ayaz Soomro, minister for irrigation Jam Saifullah Dharejo, chief secretary Ghulam Ali Pasha, law secretary Ghulam Nabi Shah, home secretary Arif Khan and the secretary of irrigation Rafik Memon were present when the report was presented to the chief minister.
With additional input from online
Published in The Express Tribune, November 25th, 2010.
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