KARACHI, March 18: The federal government has turned down a Sindh government request for the continuation of relief work in the flood-hit areas of the province. The Sindh government had made the request maintaining that hundreds of families still needed food, shelter and other essentials of life as many of the affected areas remained inundated with floodwater and their inhabitants were forced to stay on in relief camps.

Sources close to the Sindh government told Dawn that the prime minister’s secretariat rejecting the Sindh government’s plea directed all four provincial governments that since the National Disaster Management Commission (NDMC) had decided to lift the flood emergency, all relevant local and international agencies and NGOs should be asked to utilise their resources for the early rehabilitation of the affected population.

It is learnt that Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah had written to Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani that floodwaters were still standing in many areas of the province, particularly Garhi Khero and Khairpur Nathan Shah.

Referring to the simultaneous closure of the relief operations in all provinces, the chief minister argued that floodwaters had surged into Sindh in the last phase and caused far greater devastation here than in other provinces.

Mr Shah reportedly mentioned that the Sindh government did not have sufficient resources to afford continuity of relief efforts without the support of international relief agencies and NGOs.

The NDMC decision would only add to the miseries of flood-hit families, he said.

Requesting the federal government to direct the NDMC not to lift the flood emergency in Sindh until most people living in relief camps were able to return to their respective areas, it suggested that all relief agencies should continue with their relief efforts along with the recovery drive.

According to sources, the NDMC had directed the relief agencies and the provincial governments that the government had decided to put in place a mechanism for coordination of activities in order to supplement the recovery efforts.

The mechanism would ensure proper coordination among government departments, UN agencies, national and international NGOs, philanthropists and the private sector, it held, and informed them that a three-tier coordination and implementation mechanism was being evolved, i.e. early recovery strategic group, early recovery working group and sectoral working group/thematic group.