The areas affected by flash floods in Muzaffargarh and Kot Addu are on the verge of another catastrophe as edibles and potable water are becoming scarce. But on the other hand the district administration in Muzaffargarh has been rendered ineffective by the elected representatives.
District Coordination Officer Frasat Iqbal is complaining in his private meetings that members of the National Assembly (MNAs) from the area as well as the members of provincial assembly (MPAs) have been playing politics in the name of helping the flood victims.
The MNAs from Muzaffargarh and Kot Addu include: Jamshed Ahmed Khan Dasti, Mohsin Qureshi, Hina Rabbani Khar, Muzaffar Jatoi and Abdul Qayyum Jatoi. The MPAs are: Malik Jawad Khar, Ahmed Yar Hanjra, Engineer Bilal Khar and Ihsanul Haq.
“One MNA comes and asks to protect his constituency and another rings me late in the night and asks to save her constituency from flood waters. The public representatives should understand that we should put in sincere efforts to help the affectees,” DCO Frasat Iqbal has been quoted as saying.
Instead of providing food and potable water and sharing the grief of affectees, the public representatives have been trying to keep the administration on tenterhooks to get political mileage even at the time of such a horrible catastrophe in the history of the country.
The flood waters have badly damaged the potable water supply infrastructure and health practitioners fear that the crises would become even serious as there is danger of outbreak of water-borne diseases.
Thousands of families stranded along roadsides can be found looking or begging for food, particularly milk for their infants. They are finding it difficult even to provide fodder to their few remaining livestock – which used to be their main source of income and fulfilling milk requirements.
“I owned 10 milch animals (cows and buffalos) of special breed and 10 goats. The flash floods swept away all of my livestock except for one cow,” said Muhammad Hamid Yar resident of Kot Mahmood which has been submerged by flash floods. “Today I am unable to provide a sip of milk to my infant son,” Hamid Yar told Viewpoint with tears rolling downs his cheeks and pointing towards his little kid who had fallen ill for the last couple of days.
Muzaffargarh and Kot Addu are quickly running out of the food stock and the breach in Talhairi canal passing along Muzaffargarh on Thursday (Aug. 12) has threatened to inundate the entire city. The flood waters which have entered some parts of both the cities have broken the supply chain of edibles and the Talhairi canal breach is certainly going to make matters worse, not only for the inhabitants of Muzaffargarh but for the marooned flood affectees as well.
Hundreds of thousands of the people marooned by flood currents emanating from Chenab and Indus rivers have so far taken ’shelter’ on sand dunes and other relatively safer places along highways. They have nothing to eat or drink. Muzaffargarh and Kot Addu are sandwiched between Chenab and Indus rivers and home to over one million peoples.
This reporter witnessed hundreds of women waiting for ration bags to be distributed by an NGO at Budh Railway Station in District Muzaffargarh. They had got themselves registered for the ration packs carrying dry food items in the morning and were waiting till afternoon. Meanwhile a rumour started making rounds that a breach had occurred in the Talhairi and inundated nearby villages.
The women forgot the ration bags and rushed to their abodes, saying that their families and little children were asleep under make-shift shelters. “It was an eye-sobbing scene. Young and elderly women and children were crying and running here and there,” said Haris, an NGO worker.
Sitting on a sand dune, a young flood affectee’s words would reflect the government’s failure in dealing with the situation. “This breach in Talhairi canal had started occurring a couple of days back. Some of the army officials placed some stones to stem the breach and went away. The water started seeping and all of a sudden it gushed and breached the canal embankment,” he said, adding that had enough sand bags been placed there, it would not have happened. He said around 20,000 people could have been saved from the havoc unleashed by gushing flood waters.
Meanwhile, the Flood Warning Centre has issued warning of more floods in Indus and Chenab which would affect eight districts of Sindh and Punjab. This announcement has created worrisome situation among the people living along both sides of the rivers.
Liked this article? Tell others about it! Bookmark and Share [By: TwitterButtons.com]
Ghulam Haider