PESHAWAR: Senior Minister Inayatullah Khan informed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Tuesday that the damage caused to infrastructure by torrential rains and subsequent floods in Chitral had been assessed at around Rs4 billion.

“Besides Chitral, 13 other districts have also been hit by the torrential rains and floods in the province, causing huge losses to the people, livestock and infrastructure,” the senior minister said while responding to questions raised by lawmakers in their speeches on floods.

So far 80 people have been reported dead in the rain- and flood-related incidents, while eight persons are missing, he said. The minister said that 2,682 houses were partially damaged and 398, mostly in Chitral districts, were extensively damaged.

Other districts hit by the rains and floods included Lakki Marwat, Kohat, Peshawar, Charsadda, Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan, Hangu and some districts of Hazara and Malakand divisions, he said.

Mr Khan said that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had already announced Rs300,000 for the dead and Rs100, 000 for the injured victims of the rains and floods besides Rs50,000 for extensively damaged houses and Rs25,000 for the those partially damaged.

Govt urged to give NGOs access to the flood-hit areas

“If needed, the provincial government will divert development funds to reconstruction and rehabilitation work in the rain- and flood-hit areas,” the minister said while giving impression that funds shortage would not hamper the rehabilitation process. He claimed that damage in districts other than Chitral was manageable.

Earlier, taking part in the debate on rains and floods, parliamentary leader of Awami National Party Sardar Hussain Babak came down hard on the provincial government for a week late response to the destruction of infrastructure and human losses in Chitral. “The high-ups in the provincial government had no time to visit Chitral immediately after the calamity,” he said.

When Chitral was drowning, PTI chairman Imran Khan went there to attend the marriage ceremony of his nephew, Mr Babak lamented on the floor of the house. He said that Imran Khan was a national leader and he should have consoled the affected people of Chitral rather than attending the marriage ceremony.

Though practically the provincial government couldn’t reach everywhere in the flood-hit areas, NGOs having expertise in reconstruction and rehabilitation were not allowed to such areas.

Syed Jaffar Shah of ANP demanded of the government to give NGOs access to the disaster-hit areas in the best interest of the victims of rain and flood devastation.

He criticised the provincial government for important positions lying vacant in the Provincial Disaster Management Authority since long. He said that posts of director and deputy director relief in PDMA had been lying vacant since months while director human resource and director general PDMA recently joined a six-month long training. “How the PDMA will work in the absence of such important officers?” he asked.

Mr Shah said that the rain- and flood-hit areas should be declared calamity hit and loans taken from banks by people there should be waived off. He said that infrastructure damaged by 2010 floods had not been reconstructed as yet when the remaining was hit by the following floods and heavy rains.

Leader of the Opposition Maulana Lutfur Rehman urged the government to prepare a work plan because natural disasters had become constant phenomena in view of the environmental changes. “We are waiting for disasters instead of having a plan to minimise or avoid damage,” he said.

Other MPAs who spoke on the issue included Saleemullah Alizai, Sardar Aurangzeb Nalota, Mohammad Ali Shah Bacha, Arshed Umerzai, Munawar Khan, Miraj Humayun, Mehmud Bitani, Mufti Fazl Ghafoor and Aneesa Zaib Tahirkheli.

Published in Dawn, August 5th, 2015

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