Karachi submerged after rains: exposes thousands of billions Rs looted during 30 Yrs in name of Mega Cons & Infrastructure Projects
- Advise to PM for constituting commission under Hon. Justice Gulzar for creation of Karachi’s Master Plan from scratch & making accountable all having looted Sindh for 30 years
- NDMA under Lt. Gen. Muhammed Afzal’s direct supervision is active on 24/7 basis providing relief services all over country
In the wake of recent heavy rains all across Pakistan – emergency situation was created in several parts of the country particularly in Karachi which was almost entirely submerged in rain water for days due to the heavy rains.
On 11th August 2019 at 9:04 AM – a tweet of Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) Imran Khan Mr. Naeem-ul-Haq caught my attention – in which he said: “NDMA [National Disaster Management Authority] must step forward and start handling the crisis in Karachi. Forget holidays. Just go there and take charge. You were set up to handle situations like this. Is anyone listening there?”
NDMA must step forward and start handling the crisis in Karachi. Forget holidays. Just go there and take charge. You were set up to handle situations like this. Is anyone listening there?
— Naeem ul Haque (@naeemul_haque) August 11, 2019
The self-explanatory tweet of SAPM gave an impression to me and all other audiences [as the news television channels of the country promptly publicised it] as if NDMA is totally devoid of any action in the country in wake of the current heavy rains and the emergency situations and floods especially in Karachi.
I immediately took up my mobile phone and started contacting my sources in Karachi as to what is the disaster management and relief situation in the city and whether NDMA and the other allied departments are doing anything to help Karachites out of the situation caused by rains? … I was informed that the NDMA under its Chairman Lt. General Muhammed Afzal’s direct supervision is active on 24/7 basis supported by Pakistan’s Armed Forces through resources and manpower – doing their best with full available resources to rescue the people stuck, to provide food to the people, to transport stranded people to safe places and those needing medical attention to hospitals and also efforts for dewatering using hundreds of separate teams equipped with dewatering equipment in the submerged areas are underway.
Meanwhile, I was on mobile phone taking more updates – another tweet of the SAPM Naeem-ul-Haq was there which said: “I have just spoken to Lt. Gen Afzal head of NDMA who has assured me that they are fully involved in Karachi helping thousands of citizens who are stranded or suffering. He gave me the details of the work they are carrying out which must be appreciated. Keep it up General sb”.
I have just spoken to Lt Gen Afzal head of NDMA who has assured me that they are fully involved in Karachi helping thousands of citizens who are stranded or suffering. He gave me the details of the work they are carrying out which must be appreciated. Keep it up General sb.
— Naeem ul Haque (@naeemul_haque) August 11, 2019
This second tweet which was released within half an hour of Naeem-ul-Haq’s first tweet confirmed reports from my Karachi sources appreciative of NDMA, its staff and the allied forces efforts.
Since any disaster or emergency in any region is a shared responsibility and cannot be delegated to only one single organization nor can a single organization be made responsible for the entire failure of any relief operation, so some questions came to my mind – which are:
- How much autonomy regards to authority and finance NDMA has to prevent a disaster or emergency?
- Did any person or authority gave advise to the Prime Minister Imran Khan or previous governments to make all District (Assistant Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners) Division (Chief Commissioners) and Provincial (Chief Secretary and other secretaries) administrative officials – answerable (in addition to their current government bosses) to the respective NDMA federal and provincial heads –for the reason that routine hygiene, infrastructure maintenance, sewerage, water supply, local disease preventative measures, food stocking and pricing etc. are the responsibilities of these district level administrations which if not taken care of in routine multiply even a small natural or manmade calamity to the extent of uncontrollable.
- How many red tapes are involved and the time delay in securing resources from allied agencies or provincial authorities like boats, helicopters etc.?
- Does NDMA plan to start at least one food and beverage factory in ICT and one in each province which may produce ready-to-eat meals, emergency rations and high-energy biscuits, bottled water, and processed milk so that in time of emergency these items are in abundance and easily distributable economically while in routine they create revenues for NDMA making it a sustainable organization?
- The status of PKR. 92 Billion rupees approved for NDMA under NDMP for the tenure 2016 till 2026?
- NDMA as per its 2018 Financial Report has permanent/fixed assets of below PKR.100 Million which means it does not even own any reasonable number of helicopters, boats and other transportation logistics of its own which is essential for efficient disaster management and relief operations – as in other developed countries even if a single person is bitten by a snake or some other emergency happens helicopters are sent on location within minutes giving importance to a human life over anything?
- Karachi is one of world’s largest cities with over 20 Million residents but has no water supply (other than tanker mafia), no sewerage system, poor and faulty electric distribution system, no planned infrastructure since over 30 years – Is it the immediate responsibility of NDMA to correct the entire over 30 years deficiencies of the megacity within few days that also with scarce resources and limited funds?
- Why is that only one man Hon. Justice of Supreme Court Justice Gulzar Ahmed when probes the thousands of billions rupees usurped in the name of construction/infrastructure development in Sindh particularly in Karachi and Hyderabad – the entire bureaucracy of the province has no plausible reply?
- Isn’t it true that for over three decades almost 70% of money is always usurped by the contractors and concerned authorities in lieu of mega construction and infrastructure projects while only 30% money is used on extremely poor works and services which too are so fragile to even sustain one single monsoon season?