KARACHI - Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah has directed Chief Secretary Siddique Memon to write letter to Pakistan Army to remain on standby to tackle any flood situation after the water level at Guddu Barrage had risen to seven lakh cusecs.
Pakistan People’s Party co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari had also directed Sindh Information and Irrigation Minister Nisar Ahmed Khuhro to make use of all available resources to tackle the flood situation.
The chief minister on Saturday presided over a meeting of PDMA for relief and rehabilitation of the flood affectees which was also attended by Advisor to Chief Minister on Relief Ali Hassan, Chief Secretary, DG PDMA Syed Salman Shah and others.
Briefing the meeting, the chief secretary informed the chief minister that Guddu Barrage was witnessing an upstream water flow of 722,800 cusecs and downstream flow of 719,000 cusecs, Sukkur Barrage recorded an upstream flow of 584,800 cusecs and downstream flow of 569,200 cusecs.
Qaim directed the chief secretary to call Pakistan Army in aid of the civil government to tackle the flood situation as when the water flow reaches 0.7 million cusecs, army is summoned for controlling the situation.
The DG PDMA informed the meeting that more than 26,000 people were shifted to 260 makeshift camps for flood affectees while 77,313 livestock was also shifted to safer places. He also briefed about other relief activities. He informed that they had also provided 14,700 food packets, 17,600 camps, 29 boats, 63 sewerage pumps, 4,000 solar lights, fiber glass ships, 2,021 life jackets, 146 dewatering pumping sets and other material to the engineering core 5 of the Pakistan Army to tackle the relief activities.
The CM also immediately went to review the flood situation at the two barrages and Tori Bund from the helicopter and took a briefing from the officials over the issue. Moreover, PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari had directed Nisar Khuhro to utilise all available resources for the safety of people amid heavy rains and any floods in the coming days in Sindh.
The embankments should be closely monitored and ensure no breech could occur that might jeopardise the lives of the locals and their property. He gave these directives to the senior minister over phone.
Zardari asked Khuhro to expedite efforts for relief and rehabilitation for those who are affected from heavy rains and floods. He also laid stress on consolidated and collective efforts for taking care of the people. Sindh Senior Minister Nisar Ahmed Khuhro informed the co-chairman about the overall situation in Sindh that has followed heavy showers and rise of water level in river and barrage. He informed him that he was personally monitoring the situation and condition of the embankments. Zardari asked the minister that he should continue his efforts till the entire situation gets normalised and that he should also gear up relief and rehabilitation process for the rain-affected people and shifting of the people to safer locations.
INQUIRY ORDERED INTO IRRIGATION SCANDAL
Meanwhile, the chief minister had taken serious notice of the corruption reports in irrigation department and had directed the chairman anti-corruption establishment, Syed Mumtaz Shah to initiate an inquiry into the issue. He directed him to initiate the inquiry and submit the report within 15 days. “This is an important issue and cannot be neglected at any cost,” he said.