KARACHI: Different areas of the province were hit by five natural calamities successively between 2008 and 2012, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr Sikandar Mandhro informed Sindh Assembly on Tuesday.
The minister was responding to questions during question hour about cooperation and relief departments at the assembly session that began over an hour and a half behind the scheduled time of 10am as mentioned in the order of the day.
The portfolio of cooperation and relief departments, like many others, is also held by Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah but in his absence Dr Mandhro was replying on his behalf.
The minister said in answer to Muttahida Qaumi Movement legislator Heer Soho that drought had hit Tharparkar in 2008 while almost entire province was struck by floods in 2010 and heavy rains caused havoc in lower Sindh in 2011. Next year in 2012, heavy rains flooded the upper Sindh and the drought hit the desert region of Tharparkar, he said.
He said in answer to another question by her about the defunct cooperative bank that the federal government used to provide funds to the bank which subsequently extended loans to cooperative societies.
But the bank’s loan recovery declined over the years and the federal government also stopped funding it because of poor recovery. Eventually, it was shut down in 1989, he said. Citing an example he said the bank had given loans amounting to Rs1.19 billion but it could recover only Rs310 million.
PML-N legislator Shafi Jamote pointed out that audit of the funds of Fishermen Cooperative Society had not been carried out for past many years. The minister said that he did not know of the issue but if the audit had not been carried out, the department would ensure that the audit was carried out and laws were properly followed.
MQM’s Irum Farooqui asked about the tents distributed among flood victims and said whether the tents were taken back from the victims or they were allowed to take them when they returned to their homes.
The minister said the tents were not taken back because when they returned to their damaged homes they still needed them to live in till their houses were repaired or reconstructed.
To a question by PML-F legislator Nusrat Sehar Abbasi as to how the relief was provided to victims, the minister said that certain amount was given to district officers who spent it on relief work, while relief goods including tents, ration bags, ladies clothes, milk packets, blankets, water purification units, plastic sheets, bed nets, water tanks, water coolers, etc. were also given to victims.
Ms Abbasi and PML-N legislator Sorath Thebo said that many a rain and flood victims had not yet returned to their homes but the minister did not agree to them and said it was not possible because the rain and floodwater had receded over the past three to four years. The people being referred to by legislators as rain or flood victims could be nomads, he said.
He did not agree with legislators who said that it was not possible that billions of rupees were spent by the government and no complaint of misuse had been received or reported.
The minister asked the legislators that instead of making vague claims they should come up with specific information about misappropriation of funds and if it was proved to be correct, stern action would be taken against the culprits.
At the start of the question hour Ms Abbasi said that she had submitted questions about the home and revenue departments over a year ago but had not received any answers so far.
Published in Dawn December 10th , 2014