KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah has directed the provincial irrigation department, commissioners and all concerned authorities to take emergency measures to cope with heavy rainfall predicted for the province starting Monday.
The chief minister issued these directives while presiding over a meeting held after getting the latest weather forecast for the province.
In the meeting the chief minister was informed about the medium level flood situation at Guddu and Sukkur barrages.
The meeting was attended by provincial chief secretary, Siddique Memon, chief minister’s principal secretary, Alamuddin Bullo, Karachi Commissioner Shoaib Siddiqui, deputy commissioners of different districts and other concerned officers.
"The Met department has requested all concerned departments to take necessary measures because of the heavy rains forecasted for Monday to Thursday can turn into flash floods in the province," said the chief secretary.
Speaking in regards to storm water drains, the chief minister asked “How can storm water drains be cleaned when they are surrounded by illegal encroachments?”
He directed the city’s commissioner Shoaib Siddiqui to conduct a survey of illegal encroachments along storm water drains and suggest measures to rectify the situation.
“We have two options, remove the illegal encroachments or let the city be flooded. The obvious solution is to remove all illegal encroachments along the drains,” said Qaim.
He also instructed Shoaib Siddiqui to take emergency measures and remove the encroachments with in a period of 15 days.
Current situation in SIndh
Chief minister’s principal secretary, Alamuddin Bullo informed the chief minister of the latest flood situation in Sindh which was received from the provincial irrigation department.
"The upstream discharge at Guddu Barrage is 499,910 cusecs and downstream discharge is 479,018 cusecs. Current level is indicative of a medium flood. Sukkur Barrage's upstream discharge is 366,500 and downstream is at 325,130 cusecs, also in medium flood. Kotri Barrage's upstream is at 144,170 cusecs and downstream is at 129,645 cusecs, situation is currently normal at Kotri," said Bullo.
The chief minister also directed PPP's divisional and district leadership all over Sindh to mobilise party workers to help people in case of heavy rains.
Pakistan has suffered from monsoon floods for the last few years and has been criticised for not doing more to mitigate against the dangers posed by seasonal rains washing away homes and farmland.
In 2010, the worst floods in the country's history killed almost 1,800 people and affected 21 million.