PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly was told on Monday that the provincial government would declare 13 districts ‘calamity-hit’ in light of the widespread damage to infrastructure by the recent monsoon floods.

On an adjournment motion in the assembly, labour minister Shaukat Ali Yousafzai said initial estimates put the damage from the flooding at over more than Rs 125 billion and that included destruction of 1,400 kilometers roads, bridges and 1,458 schools.

He added that those said initial estimates as survey of damage was under way in affected districts.

“The government is declaring 13 districts calamity hit,” he said.

Minister flays attempts to ‘politicise’ monsoon disaster; opposition says uplift funds shouldn’t be used for rehab

The minister said 87,000 houses were destroyed or damaged, while around 600,000 people were displaced by the monsoon disaster.

Giving details of the damage, he said 552 health facilities, 549 water schemes and over 2,000 water channels were washed away by the floodwaters, which also destroyed more than 700,000 acres of cultivated land. He added that 400,000 marooned people had been shifted to safe areas.

“Now, rehabilitation of the affected population and damaged infrastructure is major challenge,” he said.

The minister said the government was planning to arrange anti-rabies vaccines for administration to people in the calamity-affected areas.

He said relief goods were being supplied to the people in inaccessible areas by a helicopter. Mr Yousafzai claimed that 99 per cent of the roads had been cleared.

He criticised some opposition members for ‘politicising’ the monsoon disaster and said the provincial government had managed the crisis in a better way and the government’s machinery properly responded to the calamity-hit people.

The minister said Chief Minister Mahmood Khan had been visiting flood-affected areas for the last six days.

As a lack of quorum disrupted proceedings of the house, the minister failed to complete his speech.

Idrees Khan Khattak from the panel of chairman, who chaired the sitting, reprimanded the opposition for leaving the house after making speeches.

“Regrettably, opposition members left the sitting after finishing their speeches,” he said.

Earlier, MPA of the opposition Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal Inayatullah Khan, on an adjournment motion, lamented the performance and response of the disaster management authorities functioning both at the federal and provincial levels.

“Natural disasters have become very frequent over the last two decades, but the disaster management authorities could not build its capacities that resulted in loss of human lives and infrastructure,” he said.

The lawmaker said the Malakand division had badly been affected by the recent flooding, which had swept away entire valley in Dir’s Kohistan.

He alleged that the provincial government had appointed office-bearers of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf as focal persons to oversee relief and rehabilitation activities.

The MPA said the chief minister had issued notification regarding appointment of the focal persons and asked the government to give the task to the elected representatives. He said that the floods had destroyed 60 power houses, 50 mosques, 200 water channels and 980 houses in Upper Dir district alone.

Pakistan Peoples Party MPA Nighat Yasmin Orakzai blamed developed countries for the melting of glaciers in the country’s northern parts and urged international community to fully support Pakistan at this critical phase. She said the meteorological department had issued a flooding alert last April but that was ignored. She called for long-term planning to cope with the natural disasters in the country.

MPA of the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Ikhtiar Wali blasted the provincial government for its poor response during the disaster, particularly his home district Nowshera.

He said he approached Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to visit Nowshera after Chief Minister Mahmood Khan ignored his request.

The lawmaker alleged that people having affiliation with the ruling party had dumped relief goods in their homes, which were sold on the market.

Sahibzada Sanaullah of the PPP complained that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif recently visited those areas in the province, where his party, PML-N, had a vote bank. He urged both federal and the provincial governments to help calamity-hit people irrespective of their political affiliations.

Mr Sanaullah opposed the diversion of development funds from ongoing schemes to the rehabilitation of damaged infrastructure and said the government should utilise foreign assistance on the rehabilitation work.

Earlier, the government denied reports about the centralisation of all education boards in the province for intermediate exams.

Responding to a point of order by opposition benches, minister Yousafzai said the government had no plan to abolish all boards of intermediate and secondary education and merged them with the Peshawar education board.

He said a proposal was under discussion to centralise matriculation and intermediate examinations and paper setting.

“The government has no plan to abolish other boards,” he said.

Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2022