THATTA: Pakistan Peo­ples Party (PPP) MPA Haji Ali Hassan Zardari on Saturday said that the Sindh government had chalked out a strategy for the rehabilitation of the families and areas devastated by recent unprecedented downpours and floods across the province.

Addressing people of his constituency at a gathering here on Saturday, he said coastal areas of Thatta and Sujawal districts were also badly affected by the natural calamity.

He said that the Sindh government had since day one been making all-out efforts to provide all essentially required relief goods to the internally displaced people (IDPs) accommodated in tent cities.

MPA Zardari noted that around 1.8 million families had been affected by the calamity, and pointed out that the Sindh government had decided to give Rs300,000 to each of the families.

“Sindh government is planning to launch a scheme for the restoration of damaged infrastructure, particularly roads and bridges that connect villages with urban areas of these districts,” he said, and added that relief packages for growers would be announced soon for amelioration of the agriculture sector.

This year, wheat could be cultivated on only 60pc of lands in Thatta district as the rest of the area had been rendered uncultivable by floodwaters, he noted with concern.

He said Rs200 billion had been earmarked for the irrigation department under the head of rehabilitation of water schemes followed by Rs50 billion for the public health department and Rs100 billion for other departments so that things could be brought back on track in the flood-hit areas of Sindh.

He said that the World Bank would provide more funds after evaluating progress of such works.

Haji Ali Hassan Zardari said that a small dam would be built alongside the Ochto outfall drain to prevent overtopping during monsoon season. He feared that the rainfall in the next monsoon might be heavier than the previous one.

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2022