Opportunity from calamity
THE inhabitants of rural Sindh have been facing natural disasters for two consecutive years.
Last year, breaches as a result of the floods wreaked havoc on the right bank of the River Indus, while the recent monsoon rains badly affected lower and central Sindh on the left bank of the river.
Breaches in various canals in Badin and Mirpurkhas districts worsened the situation after the torrential rains. Almost 400 people were reportedly killed while 1.5 million houses were destroyed or damaged, and an area of an estimated six million acres was affected.
The intensity of the catastrophe could have been lower had the irrigation authorities followed the standard operating procedures in reducing canal discharges in anticipation of the monsoon, carried out de-silting procedures and properly maintained/strengthened the water-channels’ banks.
Such wilful neglect indicates that despite the Supreme Court’s directions that action be taken against those responsible for last year’s breaches, the mindset of the country’s irrigation engineers has not changed.
The tall claims made by the provincial and district disaster management authorities prior to the floods that adequate arrangements had been made proved absurd.
They were entirely unable to handle the emergency, and in general the tapedars — the lowest-ranking officials in the district administration — were the only functionaries to visit the affected areas. Not just did the administration fail to evacuate people who had been marooned, it also took over a week to provide relief goods in rural areas.
The scale of the ravages was unprecedented, particularly in Badin and Mirpurkhas. It is understandable, therefore, that initially there was chaos and mismanagement. It is shocking, though, that the ground realities remain more or less the same even now.
This is because neither the provincial nor district disaster management authorities could stand fast against the political interference they were subjected to.
The gigantic task of providing relief has, for practical purposes, been appropriated by the powerful. Goods are being released to private parties and there is no check on whether or not the villages for which goods are being dispatched were actually inundated, or whether the goods have actually reached the affected.
The staff of the National Rural Support Programme and NGOs engaged for relief operations failed to cover the entire population in the affected villages. There have been reports that goods were being diverted and individuals were taking advantage of the overlapping and the lack of coordination.
The number of ‘ghost’ camps, particularly in towns and along roads, ran into the hundreds. Why are residents of towns that were not hit by the rain disaster, many of them well-off people, getting Pakistan Cards that are meant to help rehabilitate the flood-affected?
The volume of aid so far received or committed to by governments, the international community, public and multinational companies and local donors could cater to the needs of the affected for quite a long time if distributed judiciously.
The provincial disaster management authority should now focus on the areas still under water. By the time this recedes, the winter-sowing season will be over. In these pockets, the food supply must be ensured until the next summer crop is harvested. The inhabitants of the flood-affected areas will need food support until the next winter crop matures.
The hapless of Sindh have been pushed further into poverty by the loss of their meagre assets and the damage to their crops.
The majority of farmers pledge their crops to procure farm materials and essential items from seths at exorbitant interest rates. How will they pay back the debt and from where will they arrange the money to buy farm inputs? Bank loans are beyond the reach of the common farmer. Meanwhile, the landless, the majority, do not possess valuable assets to pledge.
Small landowners have never benefited from the initiatives of free inputs or soft loans. Hence to ensure loans to them, union councils should be allocated to banks. An authorised officer of the bank, accompanied by revenue officials, should camp in union council offices on fixed dates.
The disbursement of loans (recoverable in four biannual instalments) after the verification of the title and entering the record then and there could be ensured on the same day. This process should be initiated immediately.
The World Food Programme has warned of a food crisis in flood-hit areas. There is thus the need to engage the workforce in ‘work for food’ initiatives, focusing on clearing the jungle on the banks of the irrigation network and around rural roads.
The construction of flood walls around vulnerable villages, small link drains and brick pavements could be undertaken. The diversion of a quarter of the Rs4bn allocated for free agricultural inputs to this purpose would lead the poor on the path of self-reliance.
Who can deny the importance of brick houses for the poor? Yet this alone will never pull them out of poverty. They need employment. The need is to concentrate on enhancing their earning capacity.
This is the right time to invite donors to introduce crop and feed varieties which can grow and mature on lower water intakes, in saline soil and deep water. Last but not least, the coastal belt and the periphery of the Left Bank Outfall Drain Badin, Thatta and Mirpurkhas are prone to cyclone and floods. There is the need to construct refugee shelters in the cluster of villages for the vulnerable population.
The writer is a social activist.