Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday demanded details of flood relief activities from the Sindh government in the province.
A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial also summoned reply from the PDMA and district disaster management authorities. Sindh government sought one week’s time to submit its reply.
Chief Justice Bandial said that the flood is not an issue of administrative powers, but it is the matter of fundamental rights.
“The Sindh High Court (SHC) had issued its order in the public interest,” CJP said. “Citizens Committees have been constituted for monitoring of the relief activities,” Advocate General Sindh said.
“The court will not interfere in relief activities,” Chief Justice of Pakistan said. “Sindh’s government would have to convince that the work is being done for general good,” CJP remarked.
The counsel representing flood victims said that the government seeking one week for reply in this age of technology. “People are dying in flood-hit areas,” Faisal Siddiqui Advocate said. “No one dying owing to delay in reply,” A.G. Sindh said.
The court adjourned further hearing of the case till October 20. In the previous hearing, the apex court rejected the Sindh government’s plea for restraining order against flood relief and rehabilitation monitoring committees.
The court allowed the monitoring committees to oversee the relief and rehabilitation work of flood affected people. The court, however, restrained the committees headed by a civil judge from intervention and control in the relief operation.
“The committees should submit their monitoring reports of the rehabilitation work to the Sindh High Court,” the bench ordered.
Sindh High Court’s Sukkur and Larkana benches had formed monitoring committees for oversight of the flood relief and rehabilitation work. The Sindh government had challenged the high court’s interim order in the supreme court.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah directed Planning and Development Board to review the development portfolio of every department and identify the ongoing schemes damaged by the floods and heavy rains. While presiding over a meeting of Planning and Development Board here on Thursday the CM stressed on the need of repairing the existing damaged infrastructure, including roads, buildings, bridges, and irrigation system.
Murad Ali Shah instructed the board to invite the status of the schemes, including physical damages in percentage, cost impact, along with variation in the cost and scope of the scheme and recommendation of the concerned department for release of funds if the work could be continued or allocated or released funds on the damaged schemes to be suspended or frozen till the revision.
Chairman P&D Board Hassan Naqvi informed the meeting that in the ADP 2022-23 Rs.79.119 billion were allocated for new schemes and Rs.253.146 for the ongoing schemes.
It was pointed out that the chief minister had frozen all released funds, except for Karachi-based schemes and allocated funds for human resource payments.
The CM reiterated that no release would be made for new schemes. The chairman P&D assured to collect all the required details and their submission to the chair within the next few days.
