Senate panel suggests Climate Change Ministry to oversee PMD

Author: By Tarique Siyal

ISLAMABAD: The Senate’s Standing Committee on Climate Change has recommended that the Pakistan Metrological Department (PMD) may be brought under the Climate Change Ministry and a budget of Rs 9 billion for updating its equipment may be released immediately.

These recommendations were made by committee in its meeting held here on Tuesday with Senator Muhammad Yousaf Badini in the chair.

The panel discussed a call attention notice moved by Kalsoom Parveen about the aspects of the Climate Change Ministry particularly with reference to the role of the Metrological Office and its coordination with the ministry and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

Senator Sherry Rehman said that Pakistan was most climate-stressed country in the world and lack of coordination between the ministry, the Metrological Office and the NDMA was creating more problems. She said that government was not doing enough for disaster prevention and even it did not know how to deal with monsoon. “Every year floods hit the country badly but we remain always unprepared. We should work on war footings to solve the problem,” she said.

She said that the Climate Change Ministry should make an institutional mechanism of coordination and constitute a body, which would present its quarterly reports to the committee.

A call attention notice jointly moved by senators Taj Haider, Sherry Rehman and Karim Khawaja highlighted potential environment and security risks due to construction of a LNG terminal at Bundel Island. However, Port Qasim Authority representative Shabir Ahmad Khan said that no any terminal was being constructed near Bundel Island. One LNG terminal has already been completed which is far away from the island, he told the committee.

Briefing the committee, Climate Change secretary said some 50 million gallons of drainage water fell into sea on a daily basis, thus causing environmental damage to marine life as well as fishermen.

PMD Director General Dr Ghulam Rasul said that they were facing lack of funds. He said procurement of 21 latest radars were on the cards through which entire Pakistan would be covered.

In his briefing, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) representative Ahmad Kamal said that though a national disaster management plan was prepared in 2013, but the national flood protection plan had not been approved yet.