‘Balochistan not provided required assistance’

* Rahila Durrani says 50,000 tents needed as 450,000 people live in open places

By Mohammad Zafar

QUETTA: Balochistan Prosecution Minister Rahila Durrani on Thursday said the federal government had not provided required relief assistance to the flood affectees in her province.

Addressing a press conference, she said there was an immediate need of 50,000 tents for flood victims in Dera Murad Jamali where 450,000 people were living in the open.

She said the chief minister would present the true picture of flood devastation in the meeting of the Council of Common Interests (CCI) scheduled to be held in a few days.

“The parliamentarians have provided Rs 67 million from their development funds and Rs 250 million from non-development funds for the relief operations,” she said.

She said the American ambassador was the first to respond to the appeal and visited the devastated regions of Balochistan.

The envoy had assured his government’s support for relief and rehabilitation process and assistance to repair roads and other communications means, which had been washed away by floods.

“The American funds allocated for the construction of dams in Balochistan will be diverted to repair the Rabi Canal, which has been completely destroyed,” she said.

She said, “We cannot say that 100 percent affected people were getting relief, but efforts were underway to provide each and every people with relief goods.

The prosecution minister said the health, irrigation and education departments had been asked to prepare plans for flood affected areas on emergency basis so that the rehabilitation process could be initiated.

She said the Hairdin project, pumping out saline water from the area to outfall drain, had been completely destroyed. It was one of the most prestigious projects in Balochistan, which remained operational for more than three decades.

She said the relief operation had been undertaken by the Balochistan government from its meager resources and with the help of friendly countries. Durrani said the Balochistan government had demanded tents for homeless people, but this demand had yet to be met.

Separately, Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) Chairman Tahir Minhas has said floodwater was still flowing in some areas, making it difficult to start the rehabilitation process.

However, he said heavy pumps and other machineries had been sent and it would take few days to initiate work. He also said that plugging in the Tori Bund had not started because 550,000 cusecs of water was passing through the Guddu Barrage. He said plugging would take place once the flow of water had receded.

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