PESHAWAR: The members of Special Committee on Disaster Management of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly here on Wednesday came down hard on national and provincial disaster management authorities for their poor preparedness and response during the recent calamity.
Some of the participants also blamed the district administration, army and non governmental organisations for not handling the situation properly and mismanagement in the distribution of relief items.
The committee’s special session was convened to discuss post-disaster situation in the province and chalk out future line of action for rehabilitation and reconstruction in the flood-ravaged districts.
A member of the committee, Malik Qasim of MMA, staged walk out from the meeting. He accused the government of inequitable distribution of funds and corrupt practices.
Speaker Karamatullah Khan Chagharmati presided over the meeting while members of the committee, ministers, district coordination officers of all the 25 districts and senior officials of the line departments attended the session.
“Local administration and NGOs badly mismanaged relief activities, but politicians are insulted in the media,” said Minister for Irrigation Pervez Khattak, who also criticised the army for haphazard distribution of relief goods.
He said that district administration and army took credit for good work delivered in disaster while public representatives were defamed despite the fact that army received funds from the provincial government for rescue and relief activities.
He asked Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) to establish its network at the union council level and involve teachers and revenue officers in relief operation. He said that PDMA did not need funds for networking and urged the authority to take the initiative.
MPA Mohammad Alam complained about lack of coordination between army and district government in Kohistan which he said was the worst affected area. He also said that military had sidelined local MPAs in relief operation.
“Army treats public representatives like ‘peons’ in Kohistan,” he lamented. MPA Mohammad Zamin Khan said that PDMA performance was nil during floods in Lower Dir district which resulted in death of innocent people. He said that massive encroachment along the riverbanks and water courses caused damage. He blamed irrigation department for not taking action against encroachers.
The lawmakers snubbed an official of the PDMA when he informed the committee that rescue operation in disaster was not the authority’s job. He said that district administration and army were responsible for conducting rescue operation.
The committee was informed that 24 out of total 25 districts had been affected by the worst disaster in the province. Ten districts had been declared severely affected. The calamity had affected tentatively 3.8 million population and efforts were underway to provided tents to homeless people.
It was informed that early recovery process including rehabilitation of livelihoods and basic facilities would be completed in eight months while long term plans comprising reconstruction and rehabilitation of infrastructure would take three to four years.
Minister for Science and Technology Ayub Ashari informed the committee that people in Swat district were self-sufficient in food so the government and NGOs should stop further supply of edible commodities.
He stressed the need for repairing main bridge linking Matta and Kabal with Mingora city, because it was vital for the local population. He also proposed repairing of irrigation system.
Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said that handling disaster was responsibility of the National Disaster Management Authority, but it bitterly failed to tackle the situation. He said that head of the NDMA did not bother to visit the flood-affected areas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
He said that PDMA did not have resources to handle large scale disaster. Speaker Karamatullah Khan said that government should chalk out plan against encroachments along the riverbanks and beds.
He also said that government should release funds to the districts for repair of minor works to restore irrigation channels, water supply schemes and other minor schemes. A seven-member sub-committee was set up to monitor activities of the PDMA, relief operation and rehabilitation work.
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