When Bangladesh was part of Pakistan, not a single year passed without them being devastated by floods. Although the country is crisscrossed by umpteen rivers and streams, today hardly any news of flood damage comes from there. Bangladesh is a small country, with much less resources than Pakistan. This means its leadership has taken some wise steps to control the floods. By contrast, since 2010, our country has been regularly visited by disastrous floods every year.
Unfortunately, the country is divided along provincial and parochial lines and the politicians of every region are trying to thwart every plan to control floods, only because these floods not only provide them with an opportunity to visit their constituency at state expense, which they turn into an electioneering opportunity but also the aid arriving from all directions seems to be misappropriated.
That is why no politician seems to be interested in solution of this massively destructive issue. There are even reports that some politicians are in league with the country’s unfriendly elements who advise them to raise hue and cry when there is some proposal to build a dam in the country, although dams are the only means to store flood water and use it all the year round for agriculture through canals, and also save our population from yearly inundations.
We the people living in Muzaffargarh are almost every year issued with sudden warning during flood season to evacuate the city or face drowning by flood water. This is deplorable and shows utter insensitivity on the part of our government because no steps have yet been taken to draw any national plan to divert the floods to some productive use as well as save the population from ruination.
All political parties must come out of their selfishness and think of national welfare and not just of their own photo shoot and publicity.
YAR MUHAMMAD,
Muzaffargarh, July 23.