Task force formed to coordinate flood relief efforts

KARACHI: A meeting between the representatives of provincial and federal governments was held at the CM House on Wednesday in which a unanimous decision was taken to constitute a task force to coordinate procurement of relief goods and their distribution among flood victims. The meeting was attended by Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, Federal Minister Planning Ahsan Iqbal, Provincial Minister Mukesh Chawla, Advisers Murtaza Wahab, Rasool Bux Chandio, Chief Secretary Sohail Rajput, Chairman NDMA Lt General Akhtar Nawaz, Coordinator National Flood Response Centre Maj Gen Zafar, Brigadier Zile Hasnain of the Corps V, Brigadier Nayar of the Engineering Corps and provincial secretaries.

Bilawal told the meeting Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif visited the flood-devastated areas of Sindh thrice and that one million tents, three million mosquito nets and ration bags would be provided to people at the earliest. Another issue he raised was the repair of main arteries such as National Highway and Indus Highway so that flow of vehicles could be ensured. He asked the NDMA to include fodder in relief goods so that the cattle could be fed.

Briefing the meeting, Murad said 155,059 tents had been distributed among the flood victims. He said his government placed an order for 460,500 tents, of which 61,465 had been received and 399,035 were in the pipeline. Talking about tarpaulin, the chief minister said 165,187 were available with his government, which had placed an order for 335,000 tarpaulins. Of them, only 85,190 had been received while 249,810 were yet to be delivered.

Murad said 13 million mosquito nets had been distributed. He said that so far 152,745 ration bags had been distributed. “We have placed an order for 805,000 ration bags and so far 72,225 bags had been received while 737,775 are in the pipeline.”

Ahsan Iqbal said the PDMA was in the process of procurement of relief goods, which would be provided to the provincial government. Brigadier Zile Hasnain of Corps V told the meeting they had deployed 3,641 army personnel to help the rain-affected people. The corps used helicopters to rescue people from the flooded areas of Qambar Shahdadkot. Pak Army had set up 64 relief camps and nine medical camps and 147 boats were distributing relief goods among the people.

Brigadier Nayar said rainfall was expected after September 15. Currently, the Guddu, Sukkur Barrages were in low flood and the Kotri Barrage was facing a high flood. The Engineering Corps representative told the meeting that dewatering in Khairpur had started with the coordination of the civil administration.